However, out of nowhere, a tenth question was announced.
"First," said the menacing proctor, his scarred face calm but intimidating, "I need to ask you this: who among you will choose to answer the tenth question... and who will abstain? Choose wisely. If you give up now, you'll still be eligible to take the Chūnin Exams next time. But if you choose to answer and get it wrong—you'll be disqualified permanently."
A heavy silence fell over the room.
Doubt rippled through every corner and anxiety spread like smoke. Each genin sat frozen, torn between logic and trust. Was it worth risking everything? Could they rely on their teammates?
One by one, examinees began to raise their hands—opting out, securing their future at the cost of the present.
Sakura, influenced by Naruto's recent show of strength and reliability, decided to trust him. Sasuke remained calm, his eyes locked ahead, unwavering as suddenly, Naruto began to raise his hand.
Contrary to all expectations, he slammed it down on the desk with a loud bang.
"I'm not a coward! I'm not giving up!" He shouted.
Sakura and Sasuke both smiled, that was Naruto—still unpredictable, still himself. And maybe that was for the best.
A few nerve-wracking minutes passed before Ibiki finally spoke again:
"Congratulations. All of you who remained... pass the first trial."
Outrage spread through the room.
"What?! There was no tenth question?!" shouted a young ninja from Suna.
Ibiki nodded. "There never was, the true test was about your resolve—your willingness to stake everything on your capacity to gather information. And more than that, it tested how well you could trust yourselves and your comrades."
With a faint smirk, he removed his head covering, revealing a scalp covered in scars and punctures, then continued:
"This is what happens when you take risks in our world. So be prepared!"
Everyone remained silent, as Ibiki's appearance was weighing on examenee's mind, and before they could even swallow their saliva, a shattering crash came from the window! Four kunai embedded themselves into the walls, forming an X. A large cloth flapped behind them, bearing the words:
"Second Trial – Proctor: Anko Mitarashi!!"
A female ninja appeared in the middle of the room in a flash, striking a dramatic pose in front of the cloth-flag-bomb-thing.
"Don't celebrate yet!" she shouted with an exaggerated grin. "I'm Anko Mitarashi! I'm the proctor for the second trial! No time to waste—everyone, follow me!"
She launched into a series of absurd poses before turning to Ibiki.
"What's the big idea letting twenty-six teams pass?! You're too soft!" And that is how she started bickering with the scarred ninja.
After multiple back and forth, she led the confused but curious examinees out of the building. They walked for a while through the village, Anko brought them before a massive iron fence enclosing a dense, dark forest.
"Here we are," she said cheerfully. "This is where you'll take the second test of the Chūnin Exams—inside Training Ground 44!"
She turned to face them, her eyes gleaming.
"We call it... the Forest of Death! And very soon you will discover why!"
Naruto stepped forward defiantly, pointing a finger at her. "You think that's supposed to scare us?! I'm not scared! And I am not impressed!"
Before he could finish the sentence, Anko vanished.
In an instant a kunai had nicked his cheek, leaving a thin red cut, an invisible kunai, a kunai no one expected. Before anyone could react, without not even a second passing, the proctor was already behind Naruto.
"Most of the time," she said softly as she licked the blood off his cheek with a grin, her voice sultry and chilling, "their blood splatters just the way I like it."
If that wasn't unsettling enough, a massive tongue slithered out from the shadows. A strange woman wearing a sugegasa returned the kunai to Anko—using only her grotesquely long tongue that invited another awkward and creepy long exchange between two creepy creatures.
Everyone stared, stunned into silence. Naruto had gone pale. Sweat dripped from his brow as he witnessed for the first time of his life that level of a hair-rising situation.
The Forest of Death had already begun to live up to its name—and the exam hadn't even started. And it wasn't about to start yet, extremly thick disclaimers were distributed to the twenty-six participants, as Anko did not want to take any responsibility for their potential and very probable deaths.