"I am Ibiki Morino, your proctor and from this moment, your worst enemy" the man said from the front.

I could tell what his angle was based on what I knew of the Chunin exams. I had done more research into them, and they are meant to weed out those who are ill fit to command, and to test those wishing to rise in the ranks. This man's purpose was to instill fear, for those who could not control their fear would fail as ninja. A healthy amount of fear is a good thing, it means you'll be more cautious whereas another with no fear might throw caution to the wind.

The chunin exams were filled with plot twists upon plot twists. Always meant to keep you on your toes. Someone could fail nearly every aspect of the exams, but because of that one area they excelled at, they could potentially pass. Things were not always as they seemed at first glance, and this test was meant to show us that.

"You there! Ninja from the sound, cut that shit out. Fighting until I say otherwise is strictly forbidden. Do you want me to fail you right here and now? You all are about to be Chunin Shinobi of your respective villages. You are not supposed to be barely better than two bit gangsters! You are an Elite military force, so act like it!" he yelled, addressing that last part to the whole room.

I'd heard worse from scarier people than this guy before. This dude was nothing compared to having a literal god yell at you right before he nearly cut your planet in half. I made the mistake of letting out a yawn. Fuck. He was going t…

"YOU THERE! Do you think this is some kind of walk in the park?!" he yelled at me.

"Sorry sir, but do you want an actual answer?" I asked. He could want one, or he wanted me to just say what he wanted to hear.

"You better explain yourself quickly before I decide to drop you right here and now!" he said, with slightly less yelling.

"It's either I tell you what you want to hear, and you catch me lying, and fail me. Or I tell you the truth and you don't like it, then fail me." I explained. At least if I failed, I wouldn't be bringing anyone else down with me. It would really suck though to have to wait next year.

"You are correct. Lying to me would get you failed. Fine. I give you my word as a Shinobi of the Leaf that if you tell me the truth, I won't fail you." he said, being strangely benevolent considering what i'd seen of him so far.

"The truth is I've seen scarier people than you, and while I get that you need to see who will deal with their fear, I'm just waiting for the exam to continue. I don't doubt you could kick my ass six ways from Sunday, but honestly when you've seen and done what I have, this is kind of boring. Sorry." I told him, hoping I hadn't said too much in revealing the purpose of this part of the exam.

The other rookies were giving me strange looks. No doubt they were insanely curious about what I had seen and done to make this scenario boring. Sasuke probably knows something about what I'm talking about, what with his family being massacred and all.

"Yes, I know the feeling you're talking about. Such things aren't meant to be talked about in the open. I won't fail you, this time." he said with a demeanor closer to what I imagined his real one looked like.

"We've been sidetracked enough. Each of you come up and give me the paperwork your Sensei's should have given you. Then I will give you a number. This number will determine where you will be seated. Once you are all in your seats, we will begin the written test" he explained, trying to get us back on task. My friends were still looking at me somewhat strangely. As I suspected, Sasuke just gave me a nod.

Written test huh? I thought I'd be done with those once I left the academy. Fuck I hate them. I'd rather just punch something, or do anything else really. I looked over at the other rookies and it looked like Naruto was going to snap. Looks like he didn't like them much either. I didn't have test anxiety or anything like that, I just thought they were so boring. Anything math related was a cake walk, geography was also easy since I had long ago memorized the various maps of the elemental nations. The Nations were so much smaller than all the countries and continents of Azeroth, in comparison memorizing the maps was child's play.

Anything etiquette related was also pretty easy, since I'd had to master that early on in my adventuring career, after all, you couldn't get clients if you looked and behaved like a caveperson. The only things new that I'd had to learn were things related to chakra; and even that I still did in my own way. I still hadn't asked anyone if they did anything similar to what I do; I wasn't powerful enough to defend myself if someone made a concerted effort to try and get my secrets. Xorrion helped in defense immensely, but he still hasn't recovered from his centuries of isolation.

After we all got to our seats, we were all handed worksheets to complete for the test. Looking around the room, I saw all the ninjas who had been standing behind Ibiki before now arranged across the room. Catching cheaters perhaps?

"Eyes front you maggots! I will now explain the rules. I'm only going to say them once, so pay attention. Rule one: You all start off with a perfect score of ten, every answer you get wrong, will subtract one point. Rule two: Teams will pass or fail based on the total number of points from all three team members. Rule three: The ninjas you see around the room are here to catch cheaters. Every time you are caught cheating, you will be deducted two points, and if you are caught five times, you will fail the exam before it's even over." Ibiki explained.

So basically, if we get all the answers wrong, we have zero points, but if we only get one question wrong, we have nine points. Assuming we don't get caught cheating that is. Fuck now I'm glad I don't have a team, I could either fuck them up, or they'd fuck me up.

"WHAT?! So if one of us fails, we all fail?!" Pinkie yelled out.

"SILENCE! If any of you are stupid enough to be caught cheating, you don't deserve to be here. If you want to be considered shinobi, then show us what you're made of. The final question won't be given out until near the end of the testing period and you'll have an hour to complete your exam. BEGIN!" he said.

Interesting. From the way he had explained things, it seems we are allowed to cheat, we just can't get caught. Makes sense, how are we going to gather information from under the enemy's noses if we can't even cheat on a test without getting caught? I'll take a look at the questions before I decide if I need to cheat. As for the meantime…

'Xorrion, keep my sheet shadowed from anyone who tries to look at it' I said mentally.

'Yes, master' he replied.

During the last few months, as we both got stronger and Xorrion recovered slowly, we had been able to communicate mentally while he was in my shadow. Before coming to this world, we had been able to communicate freely while up close, and that was it. Far away, he'd have to remember what my orders had been since I couldn't tell him again.

Taking a look at the questions, I was mildly stunned; these questions were impossible for normal kids. It made sense I suppose, but damn that was not nice at all. They were designed to encourage cheating. You could, of course, still solve them, but you'd need to be at a much higher level of math and whatnot than a typical Genin.

First question, I had to decipher a code. Not too hard for me and shikamaru at least, but Naruto and some of the other rookies would have a hard time. Thankfully the question gave you all the information you needed to answer it, unlike in real life where you'd have to go hunting for said information. Didn't take me long to solve it, maybe sevenish minutes? Okay not bad i suppose, fifty-three minutes to go.

Next question. 'Line B on the diagram indicates the trajectory of a shuriken thrown at ninja C by ninja A seated atop a tree seven meters tall' I read. Not too bad of a question, I'd had to do more difficult calculations in my head when casting a spell with mana. I had to control every aspect of the spell after all. Another four minutes went by and I solved the question using an equation.

Damn these questions were no joke, every one got harder and harder the further along I went. However I was determined to do as many of them as I could without resorting to cheating. After the fifth question though, I actually needed to put some thought into the questions. Up until the Ninth question, I was confident I had gotten them right.

This was by far the hardest question, a lot harder than question eight. I was in the middle of this question when I heard a Kunai thunk into a desk a dozen feet away.

"Hey man, what was that for?" an examinee said.

"You just failed the test, five strikes and you fail, remember?" one of the Sentinels said.

"No way" the same guy said.

"You and your teammates failed the test. You can try again next year." the Sentinel said.

Two other people stood up with solemn looks on their faces. The guy who got caught would probably get chewed out later.

"Candidate number 32. Fail" Another sentinel called out. One by one people were failing out.

After finishing my last question before the final one would be given out, I decided to push myself a little. I had nothing to lose, at the very least I'd get nine points assuming I'd gotten them correct. There was no way to tell, since the correct answers appeared to be 'b' on the multiple choice for many of the questions. Sadistic bastards.

So, since I had nothing to lose I decided to test my Inquisitor's eye. It used magic to make itself permanently invisible, so in theory no one would be able to see it. Even the strongest opponents back on Azeroth couldn't see it. I had learned in the last few months how to cast some of my Warlock spells without generating an aura or visible light, just how a Jutsu is used with no such things until it's released. I'd have to have mastered the spell first though, before I could work on making it subtle.

So casting the eye, it appeared above me in a small puff of geen fog. I was glad the fog was also invisible, or what would be the point? My vision immediately became connected to it, and I could see the whole room from the ceiling. I saw another person also using an eye that looked like it was covered in sand. How did the proctors not see that? Did they just let him do it because it was presumably a jutsu? I was also wondering how the sentinels also didn't hear Kiba's dog yipping at him the answers he could see.

As I was looking around, another candidate was failed and he had some objections, causing the person who failed him to pin him up against the wall

"You can't even blink without us seeing it" I had heard only part of what he'd said. That only reaffirmed my confusion on why they would let the sandy eye go. Or the mirrors I could see attached to the ceiling with several Kunai, mysteriously moving on their own. My only conclusion is that they had to allow at least SOME cheating, or it would never work. Each clan had their own way of getting the job done, some more obvious than others.

I saw Sasuke activate his Sharingan, and Neji use his Byakuagan. It was super obvious if you knew what to look for, especially if these Sentinels were as good as they said. From what I could tell, no one had seen my demon in the sky, which was good. I decided to go further and go right up into the face of one of the sentinels. I could see his clipboard, and he was writing down who he saw doing things. I could tell that he hadn't seen Sasuke or the Hyuga shithead. Maybe another had? After all, they had five chances to be caught.

I had felt something again that I had previously ignored, too focused on my own test. The Chakra of something similar to the beast inside Naruto. Looking around the room, I narrowed it down to the gloomy looking kid with the gourd on his back. The one using the sandy eye. Interestingly, the secondary chakra he had was similar to Naruto's, but more chaotic. It was just as corrupt, and most would consider evil, but it was still distinctly different. With Naruto, it had almost no effect on him, but with this kid, I could tell it was different. While I had no idea how it was affecting him, I knew it was. Maybe the seal used on him was of worse quality than the one used on Naruto? Only time would tell, but I'd make a mental note to keep an eye on the kid.

It was about ten minutes until they'd give out the last question, so after I decided I'd learned all I could with this little experiment, I dismissed my demon and sat back to relax for the last few minutes. After flipping over my sheet, I sat back in my seat and closed my eyes. The test was hard, but nothing that was impossible. For me at least. I had the benefit of being six hundred years old after all, something that the kids around me didn't. At least that I knew of. You never really knew someone after all.

-

'Look at that brat, sitting back without a care in the world. I wonder how she cheated? The sentinels didn't see her do anything other than work on her test. The only abnormality was that they couldn't actually see her test for some reason. Who would guard their test against cheaters? Or maybe it was to hide that she actually had cheated? I will find out.' Ibiki thought to himself.

'That other one too, cool as a cucumber. Unusual for a Genin.' Ibiki considered as he looked at the red haired kid with the black circles around his eyes.

"Alright you brats. It's time for the final question of the test" Ibiki said out loud to everyone

-

Final question huh? About damn time.

"Before I give the final question, there are a couple more rules you need to know. These rules are unique to question ten. Rule number one is that you can choose not to take the last question if you wish. Rule number two is that if you choose to not take the question, you will get a Zero" he said.

So basically, if one of us says no, we all fail. Interesting. This guy was good at mind games it seemed. There were many whispers and shouts of alarm within the room. Despite his words earlier, he did in fact answer some questions.

"Hold on a minute, you all didn't let me finish. If you do accept the question and you fail, you will never be allowed to take the exam again" Ibiki said, causing the entire room to fall into silence. Before pandemonium ensued.

It was Times like this that I was glad I was on my own team. I wouldn't have to worry about protecting my team, and they wouldn't have to worry about protecting me. While I wouldn't receive support from other team members, I wouldn't need it with my demons. Warlocks, along with Hunters were the undisputed kings/queens of going solo. I would only have to watch my own back, and while I could totally work in a team if I needed to, since most people couldn't solo dungeons, I preferred going on my own. Especially in this world, where my abilities were unheard of, working alone afforded me the chance to go all out in combat. No one could spill my secrets, if there was no one to spill my secrets after all.

"That's bullshit! There's tons of people who've failed and taken the test before!" Kiba said, with Akamaru yapping along with his disagreement.

"I suppose you're just unlucky. While that is certainly true, however, this time I am making the rules." Ibiki said with a chuckle.

While the room was still quiet, people were still grumbling. I saw more than a few people trembling. I couldn't see anyone I knew from where I was sitting, but I'm sure Naruto was freaking out, and Sakura was cursing her luck being paired with him. Ibiki finally told us to choose if we were gonna accept the question or not. Quite a few people dropped out at this point, but thankfully none of the other nine rookies did. A thought popped into my head that made me grin, and I immediately acted on it. I left a little message for Ibiki on my exam. Hopefully he'd read it.

Naturally, Naruto had to open his big mouth.

"Don't you dare underestimate me! There's no way i'm gonna quit! I don't care if i'll be a Genin for the rest of my life, I'll still be Hokage some day! Believe it!" he said, slamming his hand down on his desk.

I didn't think Naruto understood at all what the test was about…

"This decision could change the course of your lives forever. This is the last chance to back out… No more takers? I admire your determination, congratulations, you have passed all the first part of the Chunin Exams" Ibiki said, shocking everyone in the room.

"Hold on, what do you mean we just passed? If it was that easy, what was all that stress, and those questions for?" Sakura yelled.

"The stress… was the real test the whole time. Shinobi must deal with stressful situations all the time, and still gather information while they're at it. Your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question." Ibiki said with a shit eating grin. The fuckin sadist.

"Oh well that clears up everything…" A blonde haired girl said from near the back. I wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not.

"Allow me to explain. The whole point of this test was to see how well you would work and function as a team. To know that your decisions had consequences that would affect more than just you. I wanted to see how you all would handle the pressure, and honestly, more of you passed than I thought you would. The test was designed to make you cheat, and all of you did that in your own way. I had a couple people who already knew the answers sit in with you all, or cheating would have gotten you nothing." Ibiki said.

Of course, Naruto couldn't just sit back and reflect, he had to run his mouth on how he knew everything from the start. The dumbass. Still, his antics did make the kids around him less stressed out. That relaxation shattered though when Ibiki took off his headband and showed us all his scarred and beaten head. Impressive. Some of those looked like puncture marks.

"Remember that not all intelligence you gather can be useful, in fact sometimes it can be harmful, so you must consider where your information is coming from. The wrong information is worse than no information at all." he explained.

"Ooookay, but i'm still not understanding the point of the tenth question. " the same blonde girl said.

"You don't? Well let me put it this way. It was supposed to be a no win situation. The last question gave you two choices, you could either play it safe and not take the question, while your comrades would also fail. Or you could take the question and risk never being able to become a chunin again." Ibiki continued.

"Those of you who have chosen to stay behind, you have earned the right to continue on to the next step of the exams" Ibiki said, to the cheer of Naruto.

All of a sudden, the window exploded, a big ball of… something coming through. Ibiki seemed calm about it though, so it couldn't be an attack. Before the ball of whatever hit the ground, it seemed to unfold, and stick itself to the ceiling with Kunai. A woman in a beige coat, an orange miniskirt, and with nothing on her chest except a mesh covering that left little to the imagination stood there.

The woman had a leaf symbol on her headband with black hair. This person… there was something off about her, and I didn't just mean her strange personality. I could feel another chakra on her, the same chakra as I'd felt before the exam near the entrance of the village. Strange… the Chakra seemed to be feeding off her. Looking all proud of herself for her display, she told us to get going to the next part of the exam after introducing herself.

"My name's Anko Mitarashi, and I'll be your next proctor".

  -

After all the kids left Ibiki was going by and examining the papers. Picking up a couple papers, he found one that was totally empty. Chuckling, he moved on and found another with a note on it. 'Hey Ibiki, your test was good, but it was too easy. I could see right through you.'

"Naruto Uzumaki, and Kari Nara huh? I just passed a student who didn't answer a single question, and another student who passed without cheating. Those two are strange alright." Ibiki thought to himself with another chuckle.