Naruto: Cautious Ninja

"Your environment was designed to make you panic, to push you into making a mistake, to make a rash decision, and to see which of you had the smarts to think things through before acting. It would have been impossible for most of you to have been able to answer the questions in the time given to you, which was why we designed the test to basically be the 'read everything before doing anything' test. Those of you who managed to see underneath the underneath and act intelligently survived. The others who were unable to keep a cool head, acted rashly, followed the rules blindly and defiled the mission objective were weeded out and eliminated."

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura smiled. Like many of the others, they were relieved that they were able to figure it out and get the task right, and that one of them was smart enough to have looked into it before either of them made a move. The boys had their resident kunoichi to thank for that.

"So that's it?" Omoi spoke up with a frown. "The whole point of the exam was not to answer questions, but to evaluate our situation, read the information given to us and complete the mission?"

"Correct," Ibiki replied with a firm nod, hands slipping into his pockets. "Shinobi teams, team leaders especially, are expected to act intelligently, consider the situation carefully before proceeding, and to follow instructions to a certain degree, even when they're based around obscurity. Not only that, but the test was also arranged to push your team and to see if you could still work together even when put into an impossible situation and faced with great adversity. This was why the results of failure were so harsh. If you were caught once, if you screwed up once and damaged the package, a.k.a the exam document, if you acted boldly without first considering your situation, you not only risked your own life, but the lives of your teammates. Sometimes the mission objective would be the safe transportation and preservation of the information. To alter the information in any way could amount to serious consequences in the end, including the destruction of your home. This exam highlighted the fact that as a Chunin, you have a much greater responsibility to take hold as the leader of a squad and a shinobi for your village. As a Chunin, you complete missions as a group, work alongside your comrades to accomplish your goals, gather, read and acquire information, and make decisions for your squad. Discipline, teamwork, courage, nerve, leadership… these are the qualities of a Chunin squad leader. It is your responsibility to put the safety and wellbeing of your comrades and village above your own." The man finished his speech with a smile and saluted to the crowds seated in front of him. "For those of you who have made it this far with your squad, you have earned the right to move on to the second stage of the exam."

OOO

Everything that had transpired following the first test came as a sort of blur to those who were still conscious of the day. Thanks to their little session with Ibiki, the Genin to have gotten through the whole ordeal were, to no surprise, still in a slight daze. I mean… could you blame them? After learning that the entire written portion of the exam was orchestrated in a manner to push their mentality, nerves and thought processes to the limits, it made plenty of sense that a lot of those who weren't used to acting under pressure were stumbling about in a stupor.

There were still fifty-three teams left, and you can bet there were still some headaches amongst them.

While they were waiting in the main hall of the building for their next proctor to show up, Sakura had an ice-pack over her head provided by none other than herself, as she attempted to quell the raging storm inside her brain. Sasuke sat comfortably beside her in silence, whereas Naruto was hanging off to the side smiling at every team he came into eye contact with while trying to enjoy the feel of their new environment.

"Ooh… I hate this," Sakura groaned, looking up with a pained expression. "The suspense, the waiting, the stress… this is way too much…"

"But we did well," Sasuke stated, looking over at her with his usual grimace, "We were one of the first teams to figure it out. Without you, all three of us would be heading home right now, and I'm sure the idiot over there would be crying all the way back to the village." He thumbed in Naruto's direction, the two seeing him smirk and wave back at them before turning to stare across the room again. "You know how determined he can be."

Sakura frowned a little, "Yeah… I know." She groaned again when her head gave another throb. "Speed reading on top of all the scares. I think I may have overworked my brain a little."

"Same here," another voice cut in, drawing the trio's attention to Team 9 who had decided to come over to them. Apparently, it was Shiho who had answered the kunoichi's exclamations, and was also showing signs of mental fatigue. "You figured out the riddle behind the exam too, didn't you?"

The pink haired girl nodded in response, which then earned her a quick response from Team 9's resident tea connoisseur. Young Kaede knelt down in front of the kunoichi holding a cup of steaming herbs, which he then held up to the surprised pinkette with a smile on his face, "Here you are, Sakura-san. This herbal tea should soothe your head pains and help recover your vitality." It was an honest smile, and from the fumes wafting off of the steaming glass, it certainly smelled heavenly too.

The kindness expressed by the young man had Sakura smile and take the tea off his hands. She sniffed it once before beaming back at the still kneeling boy, "Thanks, Kaede-kun." Before anyone on either team could speak, most notably Sasuke and Tayuya, the girl was already drinking…

Well, she drank the first few sips anyway, until the taste of the liquid attacking her tongue with bloody daggers had the kunoichi spit out whatever was in her mouth across the floor like a geyser. She wound up dousing an unfortunate Konoha team that was sitting directly in front of them, getting the trio to glare at the girl and move away. Panting with tears in her eyes, the kunoichi looked down at the cup she was holding before choking down a shocked gulp.

"W-What the hell is this?" It tasted like undercooked chicken from a barbeque. "Grease? How in the world did you make this?"

"I-It's tea I made from my own herbs," Kaede exclaimed before a confused look came over him. "Y-You do not like it?"

"It's horrible! How the hell can you even drink this stuff?" the kunoichi asked, looking across at the boy in bewilderment, only to find him gone.

Tayuya, Sasuke, Shiho and a now quiet Sakura looked across the room towards the far wall to see Kaede leaning against it with his hand and looking down with a raincloud hanging overhead. As the downpour went on, the two teams could hear through sharpened ears the boy muttering degrading statements to himself, "I am not worthy of being called human."

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