(Oh my, Oh dear! I’m posting AGAIN! Do you all feel special or what? Anyways, I have the odd feeling that I’ve got Moon_Princess’ character’s name wrong. I also hope you guys don’t mind that I made your team about Neji’s team’s age. If you hate that, let me know. I’m actually really enjoying myself with adding made-ups in here. XD Too bad Kaori and Keiko like the same guy. Ah well. I may ask some other people in KionaKina’s fan-fic to join if they want. I think it would be fun. By the way, I was going to let you know that this fic will end after the Sasuke Retrival arc, like in the manga. I have no desire to write all the about 100 other episodes that are anime only before Shippuden. I get very excited when I think about Shippuden. And now I’m going to stop blabbing your ear off and actually type up the story!)

“Cool. A written exam.” Kaori grinned, “If that’s all this test has got, I’ll be a Chunnin Exam in no time.” Tsuki nodded in agreement:
“When they made us skip last year, I thought it would be something more…dangerous.” They looked at Keiko.
“Um, well, I’m a rookie. I’ve only been a genin for a small amount of time, so…”Keiko trailed off, nerves getting the best of her. It wasn’t that she was stupid-she’d only failed a handful of tests at the academy- but if they were competing for grades, she couldn’t imagine getting much farther than this part of the exam.
“No way! They’re letting you compete?” Kaori asked, looking torn between being impressed or scandalized.
“They’re letting Sasuke-kun’s team take part,” Tsuki pointed out, “I think all three rookie teams are.” Keiko was about to ask how Tsuki knew Sasuke, but the examiner had began to speak again.
“If you’ll all come pick a random number and sit down, I’ll explain the rules and you can get started.” Tsuki and Kaori got up when they were called and Keiko watched them give each other “good luck”s and split ways, wishing she had someone to wish her luck or at least a rival she could try to beat out.
Keiko made her way down and placed her hands in the container, withdrawing a crumpled piece of paper. She glanced at the number and started searching for her seat.
Keiko ended up, to her surprise, right next to Tsuki. Closer to the front, she could see Kaori next to Naruto. Although she returned Tsuki’s warm smile, she still wasn’t sure how she felt about the girl’s attention. While they waited for the rest of the teams to find their seats, Keiko plopped Balki onto the table and prodded him a few times to wake him up.
“Is that Balki?” Tsuki asked. Keiko started and felt herself turning red. Why was she ashamed of her clan’s heritage?
“Yes.” She answered, but thankfully the Procter interrupted before the conversation could go farther.
“All right, maggots! Quiet down!” the heavily scarred man who had originally addressed them was now standing in front of the blackboard at the front of the class, “Listen to the rules. I’m only going to say them once, so listen good!”
“Yikes.” Tsuki said, watching the man intently.
“You are going to be handed a written paper with nine questions. You will have forty-five minutes to finish it. At that point, you will be given a tenth question. But we’ll get back to that later.
“As long as you team gets a majority answered total, you will pass. But if a single member fails to get a single answer correct, all three of you fail. If you don’t have a team, you are required to get all of them right.” Keiko blushed, feeling several eyes on her, though most people had the sense to continue watching Ibiki.
“If you are caught cheating by the examiners three times, not only you will fail, but your entire team will be forfeit as well.” He smirked at the murmurs that erupted at his last statement, “Now, about that tenth question. If you get that one right, you pass, no matter what. I’ll give you more information on that one later. Now- get started!”
Roughly eight Procters lined up on each side of the room, passing out the tests before seating down with clipboards, watching the test-takers carefully. As Keiko was handed her test, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath at the same time Tsuki clasped her necklace in one hand.
The test was incredibly hard. Keiko thought she knew enough that she could make educated guesses on all of them, but certainly not in the allowed time. Gulping, she put pen to paper, trying to crack the code she had been given.
“How are you supposed to finish and get all nine questions right in that time period?” Balki asked, after yawning. He preferred to sleep and leaving Keiko to do the thinking during tests.
“I don’t know!” she snapped back, “This seems impossible for any genin, let alone a rookie!”
“Isn’t it curious that they gave you three chances to cheat? That wouldn’t have been allowed at all at the academy.”
“Well, maybe it’s because it’s so tempting to cheat. I mean SAKURA would have a hard time with this, and she always had the best grades.”
“I was thinking more like…like that cheating is the point.” Balki replied. Keiko put down her pen and blinked, “Isn’t gathering information without being caught something EXPECT of a Chunnin?” Keiko’s eyes widened.
“You’re right. It would make sense to test us on that. And what better way then a completely silent, open room after being given a very hard assignment? But how can I cheat?”
“What about that jutsu you used during the bell test?” Keiko shook her head, tapping her pen quietly on her head.
“It’s a no-go. You just became transparent; they’d see through that in a heart-beat.”
“Well, use some time to FIX it. It’s the only chance we’ve got.” Keiko wanted to argue, but she couldn’t see any way around it. Writing down the last equation from memory, she tried to figure out how to complete the jutsu.
Twenty minutes later, she had a new equation she was pretty sure would work. “Okay. Got it. But to make it less obvious and take less time, we’ll add the soul swap jutsu to switch places.” The soul swap jutsu was a rather pointless technique crated by the Ookami clan. It allowed a wolf and it’s partner to switch bodies. It even allowed Balki to talk and use jutsu. She hadn’t ever thought there would be a use for it before. Balki nodded to show that he understood. “Okay, try that guy over there. It looks like he’s got all the answers.”
******
“Time’s up. Get ready for the final question.” There was a collective sigh around the room as pens clattered to the desk. Keiko and Balki swapped to the correct body and Keiko slumped over her desk.
“I didn’t think it would take that much chakra.” She told Balki. Next to her, Tsuki stretched a bit and slumped into her chair.
“That…was so hard.”
“Okay. It’s the end of the first part and almost a third of your number has been eliminated. Now, before I give you the final question, you have a choice to make.” He paused dramtically; the steady breath of its occupants filled the room in the sudden silence, “If you get it right, you pass, regardless of how many you got right or wrong on the first nine. However-if you get it wrong, neither you or your teams are allowed to take this test again- ever.”
“You mean we’ll be stuck as genins for LIFE?” Keiko heard Naruto screech from the front.
“Yes. But you can skip out now. If you forfeit, you and your team are disqualified, but you will be allowed to take the exam again.” Keiko didn’t see any reason to not take the final question. It didn’t really bother her if she was stuck at this level, and it certainly didn’t mean anything for a team. She watched as almost half the room got up and left. She wondered if Naruto would be okay.
Beside her, Tsuki seemed calm as well. It looked like both of them would be staying.
“Anyone else?” Ibiki asked. With a sinking-heart, Keiko saw Naruto slowly raise his hand. But just as he was about to put it up to its full extent, he smashed it into the desk.
“No way! Naruto Uzumaki doesn’t give up and he doesn’t run away! I’ll keep trying, no matter what! That’s MY Nindo!” Silence fell around the room. Several people who had been on the edge of leaving took their seats again. The man looked around once more and then declared:
“Congratulations. You all pass.” Keiko’s hear skipped a beat.
“No way!” Tsuki screamed, her face full of excitement.
“Way. When you’re a Chunnin, you are expected to make difficult choices. Some of those depend on other’s lives. But you must complete your mission.” He whipped off his hat, revealing a head full of burns and punctured wounds, “No matter what the cost.” The room fell silent for what seemed like the twentieth time that day. And then the glass shattered.
“What the-?” Keiko exclaimed. A banner appeared in the ceiling and a woman flew through the broken window. She had a purple pulled up in a bun and was wearing a long trench coat, in addition to an outfit underneath that incorporated a lot of fishnet.
“All right, Maggots! My name is Anko, and I’ll be your second exam head. Are you ready to face the Forest of Death?”