Chapter 37: Sakura Aces the Written Exam (and no one is surprised)

Basically, the written part of the Chūnin exam was extremely simple:

There were 10 questions to answer; you started out with ten points, but there was a twist: for each question you answered incorrectly, you would lose one point. Since the exam was made for three-man teams, you were depending on the rest of your team not ruining things for you: at the end of the exam, points would be tallied, up to a maximum total of 30.

If you were discovered cheating, two points would be subtracted from each team member; in other words, while the exam was ongoing, you were allowed to be found cheating a maximum of five times. Once the team total reached zero, you would fail; if your own points added up to zero by the time the exam ended, you would also fail.

Finally, there were a last few miscellaneous rules: the passing grade was a secret, you couldn't ask the proctors any questions, and finally, there was no fighting allowed during the exam; which was pretty par for the course when it came to exams, actually.

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"You have one hour. Starting… now!"

Sakura turned over her exam sheet and read over each of the questions, just for the fun of it. As expected, the questions were pretty complicated, especially for a reincarnator who hadn't inherited the original Sakura's memories. The only way to pass was to cheat… was the general consensus among the exam goers at this time. Sakura, however, did not intend on answering a single question. She already had ten points, so why should she go ahead and lose them by filling in wrong answers!?

You only lost points for answering the questions incorrectly; in other words, if you didn't answer any of the questions, you wouldn't lose any points! And even if her reasoning was wrong, it didn't matter in the slightest. Whether she scribbled in nonsense or answered correctly, it wouldn't matter, since the last question was the only real question.

The fact that it would only be revealed at the end of the hour might have been a cause for concern for those who didn't know, but in Sakura's opinion, that one was the easiest!

'Heh,' Inner Sakura smirked. 'You forgot to take into account that Ibiki is a total sadist, you idiots!'

Having nothing better to do with her time, Sakura turned over her exam sheet, and drew a grid on the back of her paper. She then played a game of Gomoku against Inner Sakura, before crossing her arms in front of her on the desk and resting her head on her breasts as if they were pillows.

Time for a nap!

Shortly after the exam began, Ino successfully used the Mind Transfer Jutsu on Sakura, but upon turning over Sakura's sheet and finding it empty, she cancelled her technique… but not before viciously twisting Sakura's nipples as punishment for wasting her time, not even caring about the damage feedback to her own body!

And so, time passed, with a few people getting eliminated for blatantly cheating, and a few others succeeding at cheating without being noticed. Seriously, how had Tenten managed to attach mirrors to the ceiling without anyone asking any questions? Now that Sakura thought about it, Tenten had probably set them up the previous day, having known where the exam would be held.

Until finally…

"Ok," Ibiki called out. "I will now give you the tenth question."

Sakura raised her head.

"Playing with dolls, at your age?" Morino Ibiki called out to Kankurō, who was just returning from his bathroom break. "Hope you got something out of it…"

He cleared his throat.

"Now, onto the final question. But before I give it to you, you must choose whether or not to accept it. Reject it, and your entire team fails immediately! But should you accept it and fail, you will be barred from ever taking the Chūnin exams again!!!"

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Kiba exploded. "There's plenty of guys here who've taken the exam before!"

"Not to mention you don't have jurisdiction over the other villages!" Sakura added. "At this rate, only the Hidden Leaf will be punished, because those guys'll just ignore your rule when it's their time to host! How's this any fair?"

"Too bad for you, that's just how it is," Ibiki said, grinning morbidly. "If you don't like your odds, sleeping beauty, then you can just quit right now, and have your team fail along with you! Now, raise your hand if you choose to reject the question!"

Sakura crossed her arms under her chest, harrumphing; but that was all just an act!

A few people then raised their hands, unable to handle the prospect of living out the rest of their careers as lowly Genin. Only the most masochistic of shinobi would ever consider remaining as underpaid Genin for basically no reason…

And that's when Naruto raised his hand.

'What's he doing?' Inner Sakura cried out in terror. 'What the hell does he think he's doing!?'

"Don't look down on me, ya know!!!" he shouted, slamming his hand down on his desk. "I'm not running away from anything, ya hear!?"

Sakura let out a sigh of relief; Naruto was just psyching himself up; despite having written nothing on his sheet, just like she had.

"Give me your question!" he continued. "I'll take the consequences, even if it means I have to become the first Genin Hokage!!"

Morino Ibiki rapidly glanced around the room. Of the 51 participating teams, 25 had already been eliminated, leaving only 26. Half was still a bit too many, but it didn't seem as though any more would quit at this point, and the Forest of Death was going to thin out their numbers in no time…

"Very well," said Ibiki. "In that case, everyone who is still here… has passed the first part of the exam!"

!!!

"Yes, all seventy-eight of you have just passed the exam," he continued. "Beyond testing your espionage skills, this exam is also meant to weed out those who do not possess the resolve to put their lives, and those of their subordinates, on the line."

In other words, to ascend to Chūnin was a responsibility as much as it was a promotion; Chūnin were responsible for the lives of their subordinates and the success of their missions. One did not possess the qualifications to lead unless they were able to make the toughest of calls under duress…