After the time was up another announcement was made.
"Time is up. Everyone now flip your answer sheet. Continuing the second part of the exam." He said causing everyone to be shocked.
"Question. Your team is on a mission and the enemy spots you, in order to shake off their pursuit one teammate must stay behind as a decoy. Who will you choose?"
"Knowing that decoy faces certain death. Write down your answer on the reverse side of your sheet. To pass all three members on the team must have the same answer."
"And the person who will be considered a decoy will be considered killed and eliminated from the exam. You will have three minutes now choose." The question was announced.
Normally I am supposed to be a decoy since I am the new face but the only reason why I joined this team is to pass the exam. Akiko thought in his mind.
They should know that I am not going to write my own name down. But those two don't seem like they are going to choose each other too? Akiko despite having no difficulty for the first test was now having to brainstorm to think of a way to pass the exam.
And the worst part is that, because it was only three minutes he knew he might not be able to get an answer.
If he forces one person to get eliminated there is a chance that the chosen person will try to drag the whole team down. After all who would want to sacrifice for someone that they knew for less than a day?
If he was their friend he could at least try to come to a compromise.
What are you going to do? He immediately communicated with the other two members.
I am fine with you choosing me to get eliminated. Inaho said.
No. It should be me who should be eliminated. Komugi said.
Since both of them are saying that they won't mind getting eliminated the responsibility of choosing who to eliminate falls upon Akiko.
He have to choose but he doesn't want to choose. After all if they are arguing he could at least pick one and still be in a harmonious term with the remaining one but with both of them willing to sacrifice for the other he could get resented by the remaining team member if he chose his friend.
Then let's write no one. Akiko finally suggested.
This was solely because he didn't want to be the guy who was responsible for causing one of his teammates to fail.
It was supposed to be a stupid choice that he reluctantly made but then suddenly he noticed something.
If no one decided to write anything, then everyone would have the same answer.
"So that's what they want to tell us," Akiko said as he laughed like a madman.
"Hey be quiet." an announcement was made because of his laugh.
He didn't fully agree with the message that the test was trying to teach. He only decided not to write anything not because of the kindness of his heart or the leave no allies behind mentality.
He only decided to leave it blank because he didn't know enough about the team and didn't want others to give up the opportunity that he was so focused on getting.
If he knew who the weak link was among the two he would have written down the name.
In a real-life scenario, he would have abandoned both of them if he knew that he could accomplish the mission.
After all he has heard about the legend of the Konoha's white fang and what happened to him.
To him in the world of Shinobi only the greater purpose matters while everyone is expendable.
He knew that he was lucky and just happened to be able to find out what the test was trying to teach.
Then the three minutes were up and he handed in the paper.
After everyone had handed the paper in, an announcement was made.
"Everyone who passed the exam will be summoned outside." Another announcement was made.
******
After half an hour later most participants were summoned outside with only a few handfolds left behind in the classroom.
Most people who failed are the people who were sacrificed.
Although there are a few who weren't able to reach the average mark, the number exceeded 100.
"Everyone here has passed the first round. So congratulations." Shikamaru said.
"There are more people who choose to leave the answer as blank than I imagined," Akiko said as he looked around and saw that most teams still had all three members.
"Some just turned in blank because they weren't able to decide who to sacrifice," Komugi said.
"If it weren't for you we might also have left the paper blank but unintentionally," Inaho added.
"That means we would still have passed." Komugi said while laughing.
"I am temari of the Suna. And since there are more teams than expected we are going to narrow down even more." a woman who was carrying a giant fan declared.
"First off since round two is supposed to be a team battle, any team without the third member is disqualified." She said.
Akiko was shocked. He was almost eliminated without realising it.
The only reason why he didn't get eliminated was that he was due to blind luck and there was no sugar coating it.
The first test's first part just happened to suit his abilities and he would have been eliminated from the second part if he were a bit more decisive.
"Furthermore round two will be held in the village of the hidden sand. We will meet at the Demon Desert checkpoint between the leaf and the sand village." She continued.
"Normally it will take three days to reach the checkpoint no matter how fast a shinobi is."
"A messenger hawk is also sent to the hidden sand with instructions. After the first thirty people, all those who arrive later are disqualified. In round two you can fight to your heart's content" She added.
Many Genins started to look at each other. Some were looking for the people that they could target.
Some were looking for their potential aggressors.
Then immediately after that many genins started to run in order to reach the checkpoint as soon as possible.
The true test of the Chunin exam has now begun.