{Konoha Academy, Konohagakure}
{3:46 PM, 1st July 13 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
...
'...and that's the 7th team,' Ren counted in his mind he was waiting for his 'target' to complete the exam, it had been 16 minutes since the exam had started so he could afford to wait some more. In the meantime, he was calculating whether it was a good idea or not.
'Alright, I just need to focus on whatever Ibiki said and go from there, his words are the golden rules of this exam, like the mission scroll that contains all the mission objectives. So first things first, what exactly does this exam represent...' Ren looked around seeing the different ways in which everyone was cheating.
'Alright since everyone is not disqualified that confirms that this exam is based on cheating and spying for information. Now if I consider this test like a real mission, my objective is to answer these questions, and to answer these questions I need to steal intel that is available in this very room.' Ren thought, he pretended to approach the exam like a mission as the main objective of this exam was to see if someone was ready for chunin promotion or not.
'So first comes the question of whether to fight for the intel or not.' Ren stared at Ibiki looking at him with narrowed eyes, '...not every shinobi is suitable for gathering intel, so the exam has a hidden option in itself. Only when someone fills in wrong answers will it lead to a deduction in marks, it was a clear indication that only bad intel would be punished. Having no intel was better than having negative intel.'
...
Ren looked around, the proctors were continuously writing names on their board, and every couple of minutes a team would be disqualified. Each of them made it too obvious who they were spying on and maybe it was judged that they would be easily susceptible to bad tips or something.
'Violence isn't allowed, or at least without permission violence isn't allowed. In most stealth missions confrontation is avoided so the rules make sense, but in the end in real life to obtain high-quality, true intel you may have to fight and kill higher-level opponents. That's why the people 'planted' in the test who know all the correct answers are chunin-level opponents... If I ask permission to challenge one of these chunins I probably will be allowed to fight, as long as I knock them out without serious injury as they are Konoha shinobi.' Ren concluded the whole purpose of the exam was unraveling in his mind.
As he thought more about the test he quickly figured out that his best option would be to leave the paper blank, it was his best approach to pass as info gathering isn't his strong suit.
'Wait is that Ino?' Ren's senses pinged Ino gathering chakra, he looked back and saw her making the hand seals for her family's secret technique. Their eyes clashed and Ino popped up an eyebrow in question. Ren shook his head denying the help she was offering as she targetted Sakura with her technique.
'Now that the exam is all figured out and the mystery is revealed, it is quite a boring exam, I should go sleep for a bit before the final question is revealed.' Ren thought as he leaned down and closed his eyes once again.
Ibiki sighed internally seeing Ren's actions, guessing by the way Ren's eyes were roaming around the room, he was pretty sure Ren saw through the test, or at least he figured out he didn't need to answer the questions to pass the test.
He smirked, not many people take this approach as in the end it was a gamble, he had left his fate in the hands of the rules and he had a nasty surprise for Ren when the time to reveal the final question came.
...
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Time passed and in the next half an hour most of the genin had already finished answering the 9 questions, Ibiki looked around the room, and as the clock showed the time was 4:15 he began speaking.
'Alright the incompetent ones have washed out already, and since it's almost time I should start with the main program...'
"All right!" Ibiki suddenly spoke his voice increasing the tension in the room, "Here is the tenth question!"
'Alright let's see what this is about!' Ren looked up at Ibiki's menacing face, he was finally ready to see what this fuss was all about.
"But before that, I'm going to add some rules to the last question...." Ibiki's words lingered through the room, the door opening breaking the solemn atmosphere that was generating in the room but Ren wasn't focused on that.
'Why would he say here comes the last question, then he started to add some rules, shouldn't he add the rules before saying that sentence...' Ren concluded as he waited for Ibiki to finish chatting up with Kankuro.
"...Alright sit down," Ibiki spoke and Kankuro settled down someway in front of Ren, but when he was passing by their seat he dropped a small paper roll for Temari to cheat. Ren looked out from the corner of his eyes as Temari swiftly grabbed the cheat sheet, her eyes were focused on him though and their gaze collided.
'Dammit he was paying attention, what would I do if he reports me to the proctors, I can not destroy this slip otherwise I will have no answers and all of us would automatically fail... how is he so calm anyway this guy hasn't even picked up his pencil yet.' Temari cursed Ren in her mind, she was trying to come up with strategies in order to successfully escape this situation.
Ren wasn't entirely interested in messing with her right now, he was more focused on what Ibiki had planned.
"Let me explain!" Ibiki said dramatically, "These are the hopeless rules!"
...
"First, you guys will have to choose whether to take this 10th question." Ibiki laid out the first rule, this caught a lot of people off guard, and everyone was surprised at this bizarre rule. It was Temari sitting beside Ren who finally voiced out the question.
"What choice?" Temari shouted, "What happens if we choose not to take the final question?"
"If you choose not to take the final question, then your score will be deducted to zero... in other words, you fail!" Ibiki smirked as everyone exclaimed. The pressure that was disrupted due to Kankuro's interruption returned.
"And of course, the same goes for your group as well, if you choose not to attempt the question, then of course all of your teammates will also fail."
...
"What, who would even choose not to take part in the exams then..."
"Yeah, it doesn't look like much of a choice..."
"Of course, we'll all take the final question..."
...
"And in the end, we have one final rule..." Ibiki ignored the whispers and continued, "...if you choose to take the exam and are unable to answer it correctly... then you will have to relinquish your right to take part in the chunin exam forever..."
...
"What-"
...
'This time he didn't focus on the wrong answer but instead set forth the condition that you have to answer the 10th question correctly... Why change the whole rhythm, earlier there was an option given, and there was an escape route but now he's totally going against the first 9 questions...' Ren frowned.
As the whole classroom descended into chaos Ren stared at everyone's reaction and then at Ibiki's smirk. Something about this wasn't making sense, so Ren tried to think about this problem in the original sense.
'Earlier I concluded that not every shinobi is suitable for information collection missions, so leaving an answer blank meant I wasn't wrong. I wasn't wrong then but according to Ibiki's new rules I can't leave that answer blank as the answer would not be correct.' Ren thought with gritted teeth, he stared at Ibiki's smirk once again and then he closed his eyes to concentrate.
"You're just unlucky... I made the rules this year, but I did give you an option to leave the exam. For those who aren't confident, you can choose not to take it..." Ibiki humored Kiba but his words had a resonance with Ren.
''Confidence'... that's right, right now his wording made sense, the 10th question is a test of courage and responsibility...' Ren concluded as he calmed down. From the beginning, the 10th question started the moment Ibiki spoke 'Here's the 10th question.'
'Everything after that was a ruse to get people to quit,' Ren stared at Ibiki with an impressed look, it took him a while to figure it out even after Ibiki gave a lot of hints.
'From the beginning, Ibiki's words are meant to be law... except for the threats... now how do I wanna play this, the final question is about whether we are ready to take responsibility to go into enemy territory to get information. Even if it may result in our death...' Ren thought.
He wasn't entirely up for the death part but he wasn't going to leave his paper blank as well.
"I...I-i'm quitting, I can't risk it..." Someone finally broke the silence and one by one a couple more people raised their hands.
'Let's see how correct I was in deducing the purpose of this test.' Ren thought as he extended his hand up...