As Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Izuna walked to down the halls, to the room of the exam, they saw Kakashi in front of the door.
"Glad you came Sakura." Sasuke, Naruto and Izuna looked surprised from Kakashi to Sakura "For you're sake and the others."
"What are you talking about, Sensei Kakashi?" Naruto looks confused at Kakashi, not knowing what he was talking about.
"It's because now you all can formally register for the Chunnin Exams." So Izuna was right after all, you could only compete as a full team. "You can only take the Exam as a team." the other three were surprised and didn't understand why Kakashi hadn't said that from the start. "But Sensei Kakasi, you said it was our desicion if we were going to take it or not." it escaped Sakura
shooked now. "That's right, I did." Kakashi agreed. "It was an individual decision but it affects all of you. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want the others pressuring you at the same time. I didn't want to force you to participate for your team I wanted you to decide on your own." Kakashi ended his explanation.
"Wait a minute you're saying if the others shown up and I decided not to show up..." Sakura stopped herself from speaking, when she thought about what would have happened if she hadn't come.

"Then I couldn't let the others in but it's a mid point, you're all here and for the right reasons, that is." Izuna could only agree with Kakashi, it really wouldn't have been fair for Sakuray if she had to take the examjust because of them. "Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and Izuna. I'm proud of you." he smiled at the four, and now they too began to grin.

"I couldn't ask for a better team. Good luck"
"We won't let you down Sensei. Believe it!" Naruto announced confidently, and the others can only nod in agreement. And with that they entered the exam room.

"What's this?" Naruto looked around in shock. "Well, I g-guess were not alone." it Sakura escaped nervously. What did they expect? That they were really the only one who wanted to take these exams? That would be ridiculous. Izuna looked at the huge amount of Ninjas in front of her, most of them were from Konoha but there were a lot from other villages too. She recognized the villages, Suna, Ame and Sound. It definitely, wouldn't be easy. "Sasuke! We're have you been?" rang out the shrill voice of a girl they all knew only too well, and that was one of those moments when Izuna wanted to die. Ino hugged Sasuke from behind and was blushing at him. Sasuke, however had an annoyed look on his face. understandable, if Izuna had to have the girl glued to her, she would immediately ran for her life. "I hoped to see you here and here you are! I missed those groovy looks of yours." Oh god why was she even here? Izuna got the feeling that this day was going to get worse. "Hey you porker! Back off he's mine!" Oh and here it goes, the bitch fight, the fight of the probably stupidest girls in the world

"They'd let you in? Still got those frown lines on your billboard brow I see."

"Leave my forehead out of this!" can't someone finally make them stop? It was embarrassing enough to have to stand there. "It's you guys." Fortunately, Izuna's prayers were answered, because now the rest of Ino's team joined them. Shikamaru and Choji. "I knew it was gonna be a Drag but I didn't know it was going to be this Lame." came it from Shikamaru, bored, and Izuna only glanced at him. "So all three stooges are here" Naruto gave his opinion just as bored, which made Shikamaru a bit angry "What was that ?!"

"Well, well. Look who's here! It looks like the whole gang is back together again." it came from another well-known voice and now Kiba, Hinata and Shino came along. "So you guys too. Man everyone is here for this stupid thing" Shikamaru looked at them all in exasperation while scratching the back of his head. Izuna now decided to lean against a wall a little away from the group and just watch them in silence. "Well here we all are the ten rookies " Kiba was more than just confident, he was also way too arrogant in Izuna's eyes. Let's see how long he can get on with it before he is defeated. Izuna knew that it would end, just like how it ended with Sasuke, as is well known, pride comes for the fall. "This is gonna be fun at least those that are good enough to make the cut, right Sasuke?" the Inuzuka now looked at Sasuke with a grin. "Careful Kiba, don't get to overconfident" Izuna wanted to laugh about it, that's what he had to say. "We're gonna blow you guys away, we've been training like crazy" stated Kiba, Izuna just rolled her eyes at this child's play. "What do you think we've been doing? Sitting around Picking daisies?" Naruto pointed now at Kiba "You don't know what training means!"

"Hey you guys, you might wanna keep it down a little." someone interrupted the conversation between the rookies and they all looed at a ninja with gray hair in a ponytail wearing glasses. "I mean no offense, you're the ten rookies right? Fresh out of the academy. I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves. Just cool it this isn't a class field trip." Izuna had already wondered when someone would show up to end this whole thing
"Well who asked you?! Who are you, anyway?" Ino was not at all enthusiastic about the interruption and Izuna rolled her eyes again at this behavior. "I'm Kabuto Yakushi." the ninja now introduced himself. "But really, look around you. You've made quite an impression. These Exams makes everyone tense and you don't want them rubbing you the wrong way. You can't help it you don't know how things work. You're just Rookies you remind me of myself a while back." And he was right, when they all looked around they noticed the many glances from the other participants, and they were anything but friendly.

Izuna now saw a well-known redhead, who now seemed to see her too, and again the two sank into each other's eyes. Izuna couldn't get rid of his gaze, and if she was honest she didn't want to either. The last time she looked into his eyes, she had only seen deep emptiness and part of it, pain. Now, however, she saw much more, in his gaze there was interest, amazement and something else that she couldn't quite grasp yet. This feeling, which she had felt when they last met, came back to the surface and the longer she looked at him, the more she wanted to know who he really was.

Her counterpart was no different. Gaara couldn't avert his gaze, especially not when that strange feeling came up in him again, which was a totally different feeling from what he usually felt.

It was warm.

It confused him, but at the same time his interest in her was aroused. How could this girl make him feel like this, it was just plain strange. Gaara looked deep into her eyes and this time they had a different expression in them, than last time. They reflected interest, curiosity and ... he couldn't name it but it radiated something warm, not the same warmth that he felt himself but something similar. And the longer he looked at her, the more he wondered who she was.

"Kabuto right? This isn't the first time you take these Exams right?" Surprised, Izuna was brought back to reality by Sakura, and she slowly managed to free her gaze from Gaara. A look that did not go unnoticed again, because Sasuke had observed the whole thing again, and again a tremendous anger crept up inside him, which he did not understand himself. Why was he so angry? What did he care anyway? But deep down he wondered why she wasn't looking at him like that. Even if he didn't know that yet.

"It's my 7th time" explained Kabuto "They're held twice a year this'll be my fourth year." Izuna was really surprised, he took this test for the seventh time and still hadn't passed it? "Wow, so you must really be an Expert by now" Izuna looked critically at Sakura. Could you really call yourself an expert if you failed seven times in a row? "Cool! You could give us the insight tips." Naruto definitely saw him as an expert, and saw an opportunity in getting some information "Yeah some expert, he never passed." Shikamaru saw it like Izuna, he didn't think he was such an expert, but unfortunately that seemed to confirm the rumors. "Well 7th time the charm that's what they say right?" Kabuto scratched the back of his head, nervously. Izuna looked at him with a raised eyebrow, since when was that the case ? "I guess the rumors of the thoughness of the Exams are after all true. Aw man, I knew this was gonna be a drag" Shikamaru was already tired of this test, it was definitely too annoying for him.
"Hang on, don't give up hope yet maybe I can help you out a little." Kabuto now, took out a few orange cards "With my ninja info cards." Ninja Info Cards? Izuna had never heard of that, but as the name surely suggests, there were information about collected ninjas in it, quite interesting but not really something for her.

"These cards are chakra encoded with everything I learned over the past four years." Kabuto explained, as he kneeled on to the ground, putting the stack of cards on the floor. ".I have over two hundred. So I haven't been wasting my time, they appear blank but that's because I don't want anyone seeing this stuff." He used now his fingers, to let the card, he had spinning. "What are you doing?" Sakura asked curiously and stepped a little closer. "I'm using my chakra to reveal their secrets, like this for Example" now the blank card was spun around, a small cloud puffed up and the card began to transformed.
"It's a map" came it surprised by Sakura, when the map of all thr element nations appeared on the card. "It shows all of the candidates, that came here to take the Chunnin Exams." Kabuto explained further "From the villages they come from, and how many from each village."

"Do those cards of yours have info on other candidates?" came it from Sasuke interested. "Individually" now Izuna was listening too, she could already guess which people he would ask for. "They might, you have someone special in mind?" Kabuto grinned now.

"Maybe"

"Well I can't promise you, that my information is complete or perfect but I've got something just about everyone." Kabuto now placed the card back in his deck "Including you guys of course. So who is it? Tell me what you know about them a description, where there from whatever, anything at all." Kabuto looked at Sasuke promptly, and Sasuke stepped a little closer.
"One of them is called Gaara of the Desert and the other is Rock Lee of the leaf, while you're at it." Sasuke told him the names, which frustrated him a bit. "That's no fun, you even know they're names, that makes it easy." Kabuto now, taking out a few cards.

"Okay first up is Rock Lee." began Kabuto "Looks like he's a year older than you guys, mission experience 11 C ranks and 20 D ranks, his squad leader is Guy. In the last year his Taijutsu is greatly increased but his other skills are pretty shaky. Last year he had a lot attention for a Genin, for some reason he chose not to participate in the Exams, this'll be his first time as a candidate, same as you guys. His teammates are tenten and Neji Hyuga." So Izuna was right, he was a year above them and this Neji was really from the Hyuga Clan, that was to be expected.

"Next is Gaara of the desert." Kabuto continued and now Izuna was extremely interested, she was curious what she would learn about him now. "Mission experience, 8 C ranks and he had one B rank as a Genin. There's not a lot of information on this guy. He is a rookie from another village but there is this. He survived every mission without a scratch on him." that surprised Izuna a lot, he has never been injured during a mission? Even though he also had a B-rank mission? Maybe this thing on his back had something to do with it.

"The dude got a B-Rank as a Genin? And he's never been injured?" if Shikamaru knew that they too already had a B-rank mission ... well, it didn't matter. "What's the deal with this guy?" it came from Naruto, slightly panicked and Izuna had to grin "Well, they look like some strong guys. Isn't that great, Naruto, this is your big chance now." She laughed and Naruto only gave her a quick look, as Kabuto took out another card, showing the map again.

"Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, Sound. From the Looks of it they send an exceptionally good candidates this time around." Kabuto now began to explain "Of course the hidden sound village is small, it sprang up recently, no one knows anything about it. Those guys are a mystery. Well you get the point, the competition will be intense this year" "So it seems...it's almost enough to make you lose you're confidence." gave Hinata her opinion, slightly unsettled. "To be talking like that, doesn't help at all!" came it again from Ino.

"Well, it definitely looks like a lot of tough Ninjas." Izuna let the bell ring when she looked at all the ninjas again. "Do you really think it'll be tougher this time?" Sakura asked now visibly nervous, she slowly got the feeling that she should have waited. "Of the four years that I've taken the Exams, I never seen a strong bunch of candidates as this one" For some, these words increased the motivation, but for others it went straight into the basement. Sakura was the first to calm down inside. Okay they're just a bunch of rookies and most of these guys are older and more experience than they were. So no big deal, it's okay to be a little scared she can handle it, but then she saw Naruto shaking, and that made it harder for her to calm down. "Hey Naruto don't worry we'll be fine." Sakura tried to cheer him up and Izuna could only grin about it. If she really knew Naruto, then she had known, that his trembling definitely wasn't from nervousness.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm gonna beat everyone of you! believe it!" declared Naruto. Izuna knew it as if Naruto would be intimidated so easily. "Hey! What's that idiot trying to do?! Get us killed?!" came it angry from Ino, and the others weren't at all enthusiastic about Naruto's action either. Izuna was calm about it, that was just Naruto and she wouldn't want him any other way.

"Anyway, I feel a lot better now!" it came from Naruto with a grin, while the entire attention of all candidates was still on him.

"That's the same kid as before, right?" Kankuro said
"He yips just like a little dog." Temari said

"What a jerk" Tenten said
"Well he sure hasn't lost any of his spunk." Neji said
"He has passion." Lee said
"Well you didn't intimidate him as much as you though Lee." Neji said

"You heard what he said to the sound village? He called us little, a mystery."
"I heard."
"I say let's teach this guy some manners."
"I'm with you on that one."
"Yeah time to clear up some mystery for him, let's show him what the consequences are for insult the sound shinobi."

Most of the rookies were way too busy strangling Naruto, which is why they didn't hear the other participants talking, unlike Izuna.
"You moron, are you trying to get everyone to hate our guts, or what?" Shikamaru and Sakura had Naruto in a choke hold, and shooked him back and forth. "Naruto you idiot!" Izuna looked at the spectacular with amusement, it was clear that Sakura would attack him, if it had been Sasuke, the whole thing would look different, but she had to say that it wasn't Sasuke's style. "Iz-Izuna, he-help me!" Naruto said, as he reached up his hand for his friend to help him. Izuna just shook her head slightly, she wasn't going to interfere. Well, he had ridden him in there, now he had to see how he came out again.

Izuna suddenly realized, that the sound ninjas moved swiftly at great speed at them. Kankuro was ready to use the crow but Gaara put his hand up to stop him. Gaare wanted to know how they reacted, especially the two Uchihas, but what interested him most was the girl's reaction. Izuna saw that someone out of the air threw a Kunai at Kabuto, but the latter cleverly dodged it. As one got up in the air and threw another Kunai at Kabuto, he dodge it again and now the other one got near him and tried to hit Kabuto, but Izuna reacted quickly.

Izuna grabbed his arm and held it tight. Everyone looked at her in a shocked manner, even the Sound Ninjas didn't expect it. "Careful. You surely don't want your toy to break right at the beginning of the exam, do you?" Izuna gave the Sound Ninja a maliciously grin as she put some pressure on the sonic device on his arm.

An uncomfortable atmosphere pervaded the room, as Izuna was still fighting an eye to eye battle with the Sound Ninjas. Many were totally surprised by her, others just grinned at her.

One of them was Sasuke, he hadn't expected anything else from her and yet he was impressed. Gaara was also amazed by her, his interest in the girl seemed to grow with every minute.

The Sound Ninjas looked at her in shock at first, before there look turned into anger. "Who do you think you are!" came it furiously from the Ninja, whose arm was still in Izuna's grip. Izuna gave the Sound Ninja just another grin "The way I see it, I'm your worst enemy from now on" came it from her maliciously, and the other two Sound Ninjas, who were a little further behind their friend, wanted to attack her now, but before it could even come to that. A large cloud appeared at the beginning of the room, in front of the table, from which a guy stepped out.

"All right you baby faces, open your eavesdroppers and listen up!" came it from the guy and next to him more ninjas appeared "It's time to begin. I'm Ikibi Morino, you're examiner, and from this moment you're worst enemy." Wow, Izuna called that a greeting, did he have a nicer one? Ibiki's gaze wandered to her and the sound of ninjas. "You candidates from the village hidden in the Sound! And you, Uchiha Girl" Ibiki now pointed his finger at them and Izuna looked at him in surprise, did he know her? Ibiki noted her glance. He recognized her immediately, she looked very much like her brother and not only that, what he had heard from her so far, was, that she was very similar to him in general and if that was true he had no doubt that she would pass the Chunin exam.

"Knock it off! Who told you. You could fight?! Do you wanna fail before we even begin?!" Izuna gave the Sound Ninja a quick look before she let go of him. The Sound Ninja pulled his arm away and eyed Izuna extensively "Sorry it's our first time, guess we're a little bit jumpy." came it from the sound ninja without taking his eyes off Izuna, she was still on guard and looked at him suspiciously. "I'll say this once so listen up! There will be no combats between candidates, no attacking each other without the permission of your examiner, even then the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Everyone that thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately, got it?" threaten Ibiki and they all nodded in understanding, the Sound Ninjas now move away from Izuna and return to their original place.

"Now, if you're all ready, we proceed to the first stage of the Chunnin Exam." started Ibiki now "Hand over your paperwork, in return you'll each be given a number. This number will determine where you'll sit. We'll start the written test when you're all seated." When Izuna heard the words 'written test', her gaze automatically wandered to Naruto, where the words had now also arrived. "What? Did he say written test?" it escaped Naruto in panic, and now Izuna was afraid for him "Yes, he said written test" Izuna confirmed it again for him and now a world collapsed for Naruto. "No! Not a written test! No way!" Naruto was now completely escalating but there was nothing to be done, it was how it was but Izuna still had the feeling that Naruto would make it.

After the row everyone gave their admission letter and got their seat number. When Izuna got hers, she looked around for her seat and quickly found it, what she hadn't expected was that it was right next to Gaara. "Gaara, right?" the two looked at each other for a while before Gaara gave her an affirmative nod. Izuna then gave him a short smile. "Good luck." Izuna now turned away from him to check on her other team members, which is why she didn't notice the short, but still present, surprised expression on Gaara's face.

Izuna looked around the room to see where her teammates would be sitting, and unfortunately it didn't look very good. All four of them sat too far away from each other, so that meant that they couldn't help each other in an emergency. Damn, but there was nothing she could do about it, no one in her team was specialized in communication, nor did anyone have a jutsu that made them talk to each other unnoticed in any way. Here everyone had to rely on their own ability, as well as on their mind.

"Papers face down until I give the signal. Now listen up. There are a few big rules that pertain to this first test." Ibiki tapped some chalk on the chalkboard. "I'll write them on the blackboard and explain them all, but I'm not taking questions, so listen carefully. I will say this only once."
"Rules?" Sakura whispered confused. And no questions ? Why?

"Rule number one! Each one of you starts out here with ten points. The test has ten questions, each other one point. For each question you get wrong, we subtract a point from you." Okay so it sounds like a normal test.

"Get all ten right, and you retain the ten points you have. But if for example you answer three questions incorrectly, we take your ten points subtract one point for every wrong answer and your total drops to seven." Okay that wasn't too hard. Izuna just had to get ten points and she would have a perfect score, but it felt like there was something else to it. It seemed too easy right now.

"Rule number two. This written test is still a team event. Passing or failing will be determined by the sum of the points held by all three or four members of each team." Sakura's head slammed on the table. Izuna slapped her head annoyed, Shit. Why did she see that coming?
Naruto would need to work hard. "The object is for each team to have as few deductions as possible from its joint thirty point trial."

"W-wait a second!" Sakura cried throwing her hand up in the air. "The whole concept of the starting point and the deductions is hard enough to follow but what is this 'team total' you're talking about?"
Ibiki didn't give Sakura the pleasure of glaring at her. "Did you not hear the part about 'no questions'? We have our reasons. Shut up and listen. You might learn something. This next bit is crucial." Izuna ran a hand through her black hair, exasperated she stared at Ibiki. That would be anything but easy for her. Quickly she glanced at Naruto and saw his pale features. He looked frantic glancing at his teammates for some sort of help. Izuna and Naruto locked eyes, she saw his worry. No. Naruto could do this. Izuna knew that Naruto could do anything, if he put his mind to it.

"Rule number three. If, during the course of the exam, a candidate does anything out of the ordinary in other words anything that leads the proctors to determine that he or she has cheated we subtract two points from each member of the cheaters team."

Really great, so there was more than one way to lose points, just wonderfull. This is going to be realy difficult. "Exactly in all probability, some of you will run through your entire allowance of points during the test. If so, you'll be failed and asked to leave."

"I'll be looking over your shoulders when you least expect it." One of the proctors announced smirking at the fear written across a majority of the rooms students.
"If you let the proctors cat you cheating, you'll bring yourself and your friends down. If you aspire to become Chunin, if you want to be the best shinobi you can be, then you'd better start acting like you already are."

Naruto has to be able to get at least a few questions right. Sasuke, Sakura and she could compensate for the rest. They would pass this! Izuna smirked, we would show them that we should not be underestimated.

"One more thing." Ibiki called "If any individual loses all ten of his or her points, that persons entire team, regardless of how the other two members do will be disqualified!"

Are they serious? Oh man, that was very unusual. In general, everything here seemed too complicated for a normal written test. Oh, if only she could remember all the details Shisui had told her about the Chunin exam. "I can feel them from here, they're wanting to kill me already..." Naruto cried sweat dripping down his face from nerves. This wasn't good at all. Izuna took a deep breath, panicking wouldn't help, they'd manage it, she believed.

"So and one last thing, the final question won't be given out until there's only fifteen minutes left of the testing period" Ibiki said "You have one hour...Begin!"
As everyone started in the test as Izuna flipped the paper to see all of the questions.

Izuna read through one question after the other, she had still been able to answer the first three, but from then on it went downhill. The questions they asked were impossible to answer, questions that no Genin could know. So why? Why ask such difficult questions? And then there are the things about the team and cheating, why would the whole team lose if only one of them couldn't pass, and why were they given five chances to cheat? Come on, think about Izuna. Think about it. Her eyes widened in surprise when she suddenly remembered something.

-

"Ne, Shisui-nii" the little girl was on the way home from the ninja academy with her big brother, her big brother picked her up from the academy whenever he could.

"Mhm?"

Her brother looked down questioningly at his little sister, who looked up at him with big eyes, for him it was always a cute expression on his sister's face

"You have been a Jonin Nii-chan for a long time, how was then this Chunin exam, is it really that hard?" Shisui looked at his sister in surprise, he hadn't expected this question at all, but a gentle smile quickly crept onto his lips

"How did you get this question?" Shisui knew that his sister was very sharp and wanted to know as much as possible, she was really like him "Well, we had the topic of 'What a Chunin is' in class today and since you're Jonin, I wanted to ask you what this Chunin exam looks like."

Izuna looked questioningly at her brother, he turned away from her briefly and lay down, pretending to think, his hand under his chin.

"Well .." he pulled out his answer, Izuna was totally impatient and jumped in front of his feet so that he could not walk any further. "Don't make it so exciting Nii-chan" Izuna looked at her brother insistently and seriously, which is why Shisui couldn't help but laugh. She was really too cute. He patted her head and squatted in front of her.

"The thing is, the Chunin selection test keeps changing, so explaining to you how it went for me back then wouldn't do you any good, because when it's your turn one day, it would be completely different from when i went through it, you understand?" Shisui smiled gently at her when her expression turned sad, that was totally stupid. She had thought that if she asked her brother for an answer that as soon as she was Genin, she would quickly become Chunin too, what a flop.

"Yes, I understand," she said, defeated, and looked down on the ground, she just wanted to be like her brother.

"But there is one thing that does not change in the Chunin exam,"

Izuna looked from the floor to her brother in surprise, there was something that did not change during the Chunin exam? "And what is that ?" she asked him immediately and Shisui laughed shortly before he gave his sister a radiant smile.

"It's actually very simple, a chunin is always judged according to different categories, these will never change because a chunin always has to have them, you understand?" Shisui looked at his sister asking, she nodded. That made sense, if she knew what these categories were she could find out what would be important in the exams. Shisui looked at his sister gently, she was really just like him.

"Your skills as a ninja in general are of course important, if you can't assert yourself in combat you will definitely never be a chunin, but that's just one of the qualities. The team leadership, good judgment, the ability to adapt to any situation, as well as good teamwork are the most important things. What you should never forget is that when it comes down to it you mustn't back down, because that could lead to the failure of your mission. Chunin are there to lead a group, to assess the situation correctly and then to create a suitable strategy, all right?" her brother explained in detail, Izuna looked at her brother in astonishment, that all made a chunin? She understood.

"Yes, now I will definitely be a chunin." she exclaimed happy and her brother laughed when he straightened up again. His sister was really amazing but that was one of the many things he loved about her.

"Become a Genin first, you Chibi."

Shisui laughed and snapped her forehead and ran now closer to home, Izuna briefly held her forehead and looked angrily after her brother.

"Who is a chibi here ?!"

she called out to him angrily, he just kept laughing and waved her over with his hand "Come on, or would you rather sleep out here." Izuna gave him a brief glare before she started to grin and ran towards her brother, she jumped on his back which is why he stumbled a little forward.

"Then carry me Nii-chan"
"Oh man, was it really such a good idea to pick you up?"
"WHAT ?"
"I'm just kidding, you know that I love you more than anything"
"I love you very much too, Nii-chan. You are the best Nii-chan in the world."

-

When she thought back to that time she had to smile. She missed Shisui very much. Izuna took a deep breath before concentrating again.

So they checked us for team leadership, judgment, teamwork skills, adapting the situation and considering a suitable strategy. This exam was probably about the second, third and the latter. She finally understood what was going on here. The questions were so difficult on purpose that they wanted us to cheat. This was about gathering information, there were certainly some Chunin among them who had the correct answers. So they wanted us to secure the information and share it with our team so that we could pass. The latter would be next to impossible for us, we were just sitting too far away from each other so that we couldn't even have given each other secret signs or something like that. Well, I could definitely think of something for it after I had answered all of the questions. How she would get the answers was easy and luckily she had worked a bit on her sensor skills, it wasn't enough for a longer distiant but it should be enough for this space, the chakra of a Chunin was usually a little stronger than that of a normal Genin so she just had to look for someone. So she closed her eyes and concentrated on the different chakras. It didn't take long and she had found someone suitable and luckily he was sitting a little further forward from her. She already knew exactly how to secure his information. She leaned her head on her arm and let a few strands fall into her face, she didn't want anyone to notice how she activated her Sharingan. So she always looked at the guy and just copied his writing movements, she kept her head down a little so that it looked to the others as if she was staring at her paper. And with that she answered one question after the other.

For a short time it was quiet in the room, but suddenly a kunai shot at one of the tables that were further away in front of her and everyone in this area stared in panic at the kunai. Looks like someone ran out of five strikes.

"What was that all about?" The Ninja on the table, on which the Kunai was landed on, now stood up from his seat, furiously.
"Five strikes and you're out. You just failed the test" one of the sentinels said
"What? It can't be!"
"You and you're team are out" he said. This team now left the examination room, but they weren't the only ones caught.

"On your feet Number 102. You fail."
"Dang..."
"You too number 23. You're out."
"No way!"
"Number 43 and number 27 start walking. You all fail!"

and so it went on and on. Izuna had now written down all the answers and was thinking about how to pass them on to her team colleague. During this time, many others had now also understood that they had to cheat to pass. Izuna saw what everyone was doing to cheat, Sasuke used his Sharingan as she did, but he used it a little too conspicuously, just like Neji. She could tell immediately that he was using his Byakugan. She found Gaara's method really not bad, he created a little sand eye in the air which apparently was connected to his own eyes, so he could see the answers from everyone and pick the best out of it, very cunning.

"Excuse me." came it from Kankuro as he raised his hand.
"What is it?" The examiner asked
"I've got to go to the bathroom." Kankuro said
"We go with you so you don't do anything funny." a examiner said as he handcuffed Kankuro.
"That's perfectly understandable." Kankuro said

As Kankuro and the sentinel went to the bathroom it turns out that sentinel was Kankuro's puppet as the started to write down in the answers in a slip of paper.

There were only twenty minutes left and Izuna already had an idea how to pass on information to her team. It was a bit risky, especially since she couldn't apply it to everyone, but as long as she could apply it to the examiners, it might work. First, she would start with the examiners she knew were examiners. So it was Ibikis turn and those who sat on the sides of the classroom. She was really lucky that she sat so centrally that she had everyone in view.

So she started with Ibiki, she looked at him until his gaze wandered into her eyes, and when that happened she activated her Sharingan and threw him into a Genjutsu. With that the leader was already finished, she was now looking at the examiners on the sides of the classroom and she too sent them one by on in a Genjutsu. So she had everyone outside, now only the moles were missing. She tracked them down one by one and found them quickly. One in front of her and One behind her, she would take the one in front of her first. So she made two paper balls and threw the first one. Mole one turned to her and was caught in her Genjutsu. It went on like this with the other and now she had all the examiners in her Genjutsu. Now she got up with the three pieces of paper she had for Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto, immediately they all looked confused but said nothing.

She walked calmly through the classroom and dropped her notes at Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto without being noticed, then she sat down again and released her Genjutsu. Everyone had looked at her in confusion and had not understood why none of the examiners had said anything to her. Well, in the eyes of most of the people it just seemed as if she had walked through the classroom out of boredom, which is why nobody said anything more about it. However, some others were shocked and these were the Sand Team, Rock Lees Team, and Sound Ninjas. They had noticed that she were probably giving her team information with this, but no one had any idea why the examiners hadn't said anything.

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were totally shocked when they saw Izuna, but when they read the notes they were completely amazed. She had actually managed to give you the answers to the questions. They were completely overwhelmed. Sasuke could only grin, that was Izuna, she was just amazing. Sasuke looked at her briefly and she gave him a short wink and he grinned at it. They would passed the first test. A certain redhead was now looking at the girl next to him, she had done something. Somehow she had been able to get the examiners to ignore her. He just didn't know how she had done it, she was really good, that became more and more clear to him.

"Get ready for the tenth question!" Ibiki called. Even though Naruto had now some answers on his paper it didn't stop his worry. The whole room was on edge. "And before we get to the question itself, I'm adding one more new rule."
The class gulped in fear. Kankuro made it back just in time. "Looks like you're in luck," Ibiki called to Kankuro who was walking toward his desk. "The time you've spent playing with dolls hasn't been completely wasted." Oh, so he noticed? She hoped her genjutsu had gone unnoticed but so far it was looking good.

"Let me explain this rule is absolute." What does he mean? Absolute? "First you must choose whether to accept or reject this tenth question." What ? They could decide whether they want to answer the question or not?"Ch-chose? What happens if someone doesn't accept the question?!" Temari called from her desk.

Everyone waited nervously for the answer to that question. "IF you reject the question and don't even try to answer it, you'll lose all your points immediately and fail. Your teammates will fail right along with you." Strange. Something's wrong, what were they up to? "Say what?!"
"Then why would anyone choose to reject it?"
"Because of the other rule. If you try to answer the question and fail you will never be permitted to apply for the Chunin exams again. Not ever." Izuna looked at Ibiki with a raised eyebrow. No, he was aiming for something but she couldn't think of anything. Come on, think about Izuna.

"You can't be serious! That's ridiculous! There are ninja here who've say for the chunin exams more than once already! We know there are!" Kiba yelled standing up shocked. All Ibiki could do was laugh at that.

"Just your rotten luck I wasn't making the rules in the past years. Now I am. I've been up front with you. You can take a failing grade now, and try again later." Ibiki smirked. He confused everyone but he wasn't wrong. He did tell everyone it was okay to leave then we'd be able to come back again, aber das war was sie störte, but that was what bothered her, and suddenly it fell like scales from her eyes.

"What you should never forget is that when it comes down to it you mustn't back down, because that could lead to the failure of your mission."

"Anyone who has doubts would be smart to reject the tenth question right now. Come back and reapply next year, and the year after that."

Shisui, you are just the greatest. Without you she would never have made it. They wanted to bait them with it, they should take the safe route, but in real life it didn't work that way. You can't just say 'I'll try again tomorrow' during a mission and she only knew that through Shisui. Thank you, Nii-chan, you will be proud.

"Ready? Then lets begin." there was brief silence and many swallowed hard before Ibiki continued. "Those who choose not to accept should raise their hands; Once their number has been confirmed they will leave the room." Hand after hand was raised announcing that they quit. Four teams were now gone and it went on and suddenly Naruto raised his hand and Izuna looked at him in surprise, she wasn't angry, she just didn't expect him to give up. "NEVER underestimate me!" Naruto screamed slamming his hand down on the table drawing everyone's attention. Izuna smiled to herself staring at the blonde boy.
Well, forget what she said. It wouldn't have fit him anyway to just give up. "I don't quit, and I won't run!" That boy never realized how much he affected the people around him. Izuna knew that Naruto was something special, he showed it again and again with such actions.

"I'll accept your stupid question! Even if I risk ended up a rookie for the rest of my life, I'll still become Hokage, even if I can only make it by pure stubbornness. I don't care! I'm not afraid of you!" Beside Naruto, Hinata had a soft smile on her lips a light blush on her cheeks, her lilac eyes were filled with love and adoration. Izuna just grinned at Naruto, with that the cube had fallen.

"I'll ask you one last time. This is a decision that could affect the rest of your life. Quit now, while you still have the chance."

"I never go back on my word. Cussedness is part of my shinobi skill set." Naruto argued back. There was no way in the world he would back out. "Good call. So, everyone who is still here, you've just passed the first exam!" Ibiki congratulated everyone smiling his creepy smile in the process. "So all seventy nine of you who are still here, you've just passed the first exam."

The whole room sat stunned most gasped in surprise. Practically everyone's mouths had dropped open in surprise. Izuna leaned back now, with a big grin on her face. So she was right, this was just an ulitimatum. The tenth question was the all-important question, whether or not they would pass.

"What do you mean 'passed' when did that happen? What about the tenth question?" Sakura called wide eyed. "There is no tenth question beyond the whole accept or reject thing." Ibiki laughed but this time he seemed so proud. Like he was found everyone's confusion hilarious. "Hey! Then why did we have to suffer through the other nine questions? That was a total waste of our time!" Temari yelled glaring at the main proctor.
"There was no waste. Those questions had a purpose, which they've already served." But it seemed that just went over everyones heads like they needed to be told.

"Such as?"

Izuna decided to interfere and grinned at Ibiki "You wanted to test how well we could get information unnoticed, wasn't it?" Everyone looked at her in surprise and Ibiki nodded with a grin. This girl was really Shisui's sister. "Right, I didn't expect anything else from you." so he did know her after all, maybe he knew her brother and therefore knew who she was. "Our goal was indeed to test your skills at spying!" Sasuke was right! Like a majority of the class had cheated already but wow. Sasuke was right. "Our skills at spying?" Temari questioned again.

Ibiki didn't seem all that intimidating now, he looked like a carefree guy with a few scars. Someone you'd think it would be fun to hang out with later in the day. "Remember the rules at the beginning? You pass or fail as part of the three or four-man cell. With that rule, I pressured you with the fear that anything you did wrong would bring your teammates down with you." Ibiki explained with a carefree attitude.

"You know, I kinda figured that was it." Izuna rolled her eyes at that. Naruto could be so full of it."However the questions are beyond the level that Genin ninja could be expected to handle. So most of you having reached that same conclusion, had only one way of retaining your points. By cheating. In other words we set up the test on the assumption you'd cheat. And to ensure there would be suitable targets for you to cheat from, we snuck in a pair of ringers. Two Chunins who already knew all the answers." Those were the two she'd identified earlier.

"It took me forever to figure out who they were!" A guy called.
"Oh yeah. Me too." Another called to the first man.
"Hahahaha! Yeah! It was obvious! Any idiot could tell!" Naruto called laughing loudly. He wanted to be part of the conversation and show he wasn't that stupid. Sasuke rolled his eyes at him, he had no idea. "Of course, anyone who cheated in a clumsy or obvious way failed." Ibiki started to remove his headplate. As well as his cap showing off his head. Eyes widen in surprise. It was covered in second degree burn marks and scars.

"Because there may be circumstances where being caught in an act of espionage can cost you more than just your life. You pay in ways that can be taken from you little by little, time and time again, when many lives hang in the balance." Ibiki sensei had been tortured. Gaara watched the girl beside him, eyes widen with surprise, this strange feeling suddenly came over him again, but this time it was different. He feels the need to grab her hand and inwardly he wondered what she would do if he did.

"The information you obtain can't be trusted..."Izuna suddenly felt a hand touching hers. Surprised, she looked from the hand to its owner. Gaara just looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and she gave him a short smile, she hadn't expected that he wanted to touch her hand, did he want to calm her down from the surprise about Ibiki? Izuna decided to take his hand in hers and squeeze it lightly. Gaara looked at her in surprise and this strange feeling grew inside him, it wasn't uncomfortable, as he now realized. Perhaps she was his possibility to...

"If you can't keep your presences secret from the enemy."
The two woke up from their stiffness and looked back at Ibiki who gave the students a life lesson without having to deal with the pain that he had to go through. Gaara, however, did not let go of Izuna's hand and it didn't bother her either, on the contrary, she found it very pleasant. "Learn that and learn it well. If you bring back intelligence from a suspect source or a compromised operation you're doing your enemies' work for them, putting those you serve in danger. That's why we maneuvered you into your espionage skills to cheat. It was the quickest way of weeding out the students whose skills aren't yet up to snuff." Her hands were soft, warmer than he thought and Gaara got more and more the feeling as if he had to...own Izuna. He felt something in her that could otherwise only bring him the deaths of others, and he didn't understand why, but did he had to understand it at all? If she was with him, maybe he could finally ... but the more he thought about it, the more his head hurt.

No, whatever he felt was not real. Gaara quickly let go of Izuna's hand and stared straight ahead, ignoring her. Izuna was surprised before she was hurt, but she quickly shook it off. She didn't have time for something like that, that was silly of her. She should concentrate on the exam and not on any boy she didn't even know.

"Okay, but what was the deal with the tenth question?" Temari asked still clueless about the tenth question.
Ibiki tied his head plate back in place smiling at the class. He looked so happy and relaxed right now. "Ah, the tenth question was the first real test on the exam." Though as he said that it still went over a majority of everyone's heads.
"What on earth do you mean?" Sakura called showing her confusion.
"Let me explain. The tenth question was a choice between two options. That were both difficult and dangerous. Those who chose to reject were failed, and their friends along with them. Those who chose to accept and couldn't answer the question lost any chance of ever even trying again. IT was a nasty, unfair, no win set of options."

The room stared at him confused.

"So why did I present them? Lets suppose you all go on to successfully attain the rank of chunin. You are assigned to steal a vital enemy document knowing nothing about the skills, deployment, or military preparedness of your foe. You may have to cross a territory that has been heavily minded and set with traps. Now do you accept your mission? Or do you reject it? Rather than place your own life or the lives of your companions in jeopardy? Could any Chunin get away with only taking on the safe jobs? Of course not!" It was just like Shisui had told her, a true ninja had to know how to cope with a difficult situation, you couldn't just say 'that it was too difficult for you' that was not how the world went.

"NO matter how dangerous the risk there will be missions that you cannot decline. A ninja must demonstrate valor that inspires those around him, helping all to overcome their fear." Izuna's gaze wandered to Naruto, smiling. Who would have thought that ? Naruto had really important skills for a Chunin, at first glance you wouldn't believe that, but like Izuna said, he was something special. "This is the talent that we most value in the commander of a chunin cell! Those who can't gamble with their own fate who would trade todays certain risk for tomorrows uncertain future, never taking the chance that lies before them. They are weaklings who make only weak and easy decisions. In my opinion they don't belong in the ranks of the chunin at all!"
Izuna could see Naruto now, shaking with triumph at choosing to stay. That smile spreading across his face. The determined look in his bright blue eyes.

"By choosing to accept you answered the almost insoluble tenth question correctly. If you keep that spirit you can probably conquer all of the many doubts and difficulties you'll face. You've passed the first hurdle. Part one of the Chunin selection exam is now concluded. I'll pray you fight a good fight!"

"Yeah you do that! Go pray!" Naruto yelled excitedly, making a few students laugh in the process. Though it was only two seconds later that the door was crashed down. Ohh, what happened now? It seemed as if they didn't want to waste any time and went straight to the next exam. It was a blur of black before you could clearly see what had happened. A busty woman with dark purple hair had crashed the door down, sent Kunai's flying through the room to the ceiling startling everyone out of their good moods into surprise.

"WHAT THE?"

"None of you are in any position to celebrate! I am, the second examiner, Anko Mitarashi! Times a wastin' people. Lets go!" Anko called glaring down at the students. "Follow me!"

"Can't you sense the mood?" Ibiki called stepping in front of the sign Anko had pinned to the ceiling.
"Seventy-nine of you are still here? Ibiki you passed twenty-six teams?! Obviously, you went too easy on them." Anko scolded the older man. "This year we have applicants of exceptional caliber." Ibiki defended smirking to himself, Anko didn't seen to care for the answer, not believing the man.
"Yeah right. I'll cut down the number by half before the next test is done." Cut us down by half, heh ?Interesting, she was curious what the next test looked like. "Oh! I get charged up just thinking about it! I'll explain things in detail as soon as we move to our location, so follow me."

Students stood from their desks filing out of the room, one by one. Izuna looked at Gaara again, who looked at her as well. They both felt this strange feeling again, but Izuna was the first to tear herself away. "Good luck with the second exam" and with that she disappeared to her team, Gaara looked after her in surprise, he had expected that she would now ignore him, but it seemed he was wrong.

"How was sitting next to that creep?" Sasuke asked, as Izuna appeared next to them and glared at Gaara's retreating form.

"Don't be so mean, Susu." Izuna laughed before she looked again at Gaara with a serious expression "It was ok, everything could have been worse." the little hand she left, confidently out, it didn't seem to matter any way. Izuna would concentrate on the exams everything else was irrelevant "If you say so." Sasuke just gave her a skeptical look, he didn't think that thos was everything, but as it seemed it was no longer important because Izuna now no longer keept throwing this strange looks, at Gaara.