ten. 

(—the first exam)

Winter stands hidden by the shadows watching as other Genin filed into the room assessing each and every one of them. A few stuck in her mind, a Grass Nin with chakra resources way too high, the Sand Siblings who were looking around and a Mist Nin who seemed familiar. Everyone stuck in their teams and for a second her heart ached, missing her old team. 

She closed her eyes, right now she was to pass the first test, she could reminisce later.

A commotion caused her to look at where nine rookies were grouping up, drawing the attention of almost everyone in the room. A local Genin made his way over to them and Winter closed her eyes, not really caring what they were saying... until Sasuke spoke up, "Rock Lee, Gaara of the Sand and Winter." 

She silently walked over to them, still hidden in the darkness. 

"Rock Lee, he's a year older than you guys and this is his first year entering the exams. He excels greatly in Taijutsu." The Genin flipped over another card showing a picture of Gaara's face. "Gaara of the Desert. This will be his first time in the exams as well, he is exceptionally powerful, and get this. The guy's done a B-Ranked mission and came out without a scratch on him." The Genin pushes up his glasses before turning over the last card showing Winter without her scar and a small smile on her face. 

She narrowed her eyes, that had been taken a year ago when she had a reason to smile. 

"Winter, no last name available. She graduated a year early and moved to Konoha two years ago. Uh, let's see, strength in Taijutsu and Kenjutsu. Team..." The card is ripped out of his hands and burned to ashes in front of Kabuto's shocked face. 

"I think that's enough." Winter droned, "You'll take out the fun when everyone figures out where my team is." My non-existent team, she thought with bland amusment. Brushing off the ash she turned and walked away not saying anything else.

"Winter my youthful friend!" A blur of green and Rock Lee stood in front of her grinning widely, "Did you get a new team then?" 

She laughs, "No." 

Tenten appears beside him, "Then who are you taking the exam with. Unless..." Her eyes widen in understanding, "Winter you didn't!" She said shocked, "You're being reckless, people have been killed in these exams before." 

Winter shrugged her shoulders, "I can't die if I'm already dead inside. Don't worry, I won't be killed by this, I won't die until I kill him."

Neji stands impassively next to Tenten though his eyes flicker with worry for a split second before it vanishes. "Alright calm down you baby-faced degenerates!" A puff of smoke and several Chunin and a man with two scars running down his face stood there. "My name is Ibiki Morino, the first exam starts now!"

***

Winter glares at the paper on the desk, getting increasingly annoyed at the fact that a certain redhead was sitting next to her. Blinking a few times she decides to get on with the test already and scans the paper. Too advanced for Genin and maybe even some Chunin unless you're a genius. She racks through her brain thinking over various ways to cheat without being caught. 

I could summon Mist since she doesn't produce that cloud of smoke when she appears but doing the hand signs and biting my thumb would be hard to do without getting caught. She sighs, I guess I have to no choice. Closing her eyes she breathes deeply, to the Chunin watching her she appeared to be trying to calm herself down, but in reality,Genin she was listening.

Listening to the sweat dripping Genin'sforeheads, the scratching of pencils on paper and curses being murmured underneath people's breath. However, above all, she could faintly hear water dripping from somewhere. Concentrating she felt her eyes change, everything became sharper. She could feel the moisture in the air, opening her eyes but keeping them on her paper she formed small, invisible snowflakes, cooling the water until it became ice. 

Each snowflake was small and thin, invisible to any but Sasuke who's Sharingan saw the tiny items floating around the room. Gaara, who was already finished watched her as she kept her calm composure, though she desperately wanted to smirk as her snowflakes settled onto his paper. More settled down onto her paper reflecting the answers.

She slowly and carefully copies the answers down, pausing every now and then to make it appear like she was struggling to come up with an answer. Finished she released her control making the invisible snowflakes vanish. Flipping her paper over she watches the clock, counting the seconds that tick by. 

"Alright pencils down! It's time for the tenth question!" Ibiki roared out. Winter stares at the strange man as his speaks, "First there is one more rule that only applies to the tenth and final question, you may choose to take it or not to. However, if you choose not to take the final question then you and your whole team automatically are disqualified."

Shouts of protest rung out and Ibiki held up his hand, "Silence! The reason for this is simple... if you don't answer the question correctly then you will be banned from the Chunin Exams for the rest of your shinobi career." Everyone was wearing various levels of shock on their faces, however, Winter's soon turned into one of steely determination for her mind had already been set. 

She was completing this exam no matter what. 

The Chunin in charge of watching her glanced at her before doing a double take and looking at her eyes. The Genin's eyes were dark and dead set on staying, something that next to no one else showed. He nudged the proctor the next to him whispering, "Hey isn't that the soloist?" 

The other Chunin, who was Izumo looked at Winter his eyes widening before a small smile appeared on his face, "Yeah it is, and I know personally she won't give up."

***

The Jonin of the rookie teams and Inazuma sat in a lounge, different stages of boredom on their faces. "You know I almost miss having my team around." Kakashi stated lazily. 

"Well don't get too comfortable, they may not pass the exam." Asuma commented, exhaling a cloud of smoke, "The first proctor is Ibiki Morino." 

Kakashi's viable eye widened, "Not that sadist?" 

Kurenai looked at them slightly confused, "Who?" 

Kakashi looked at her, "Since you are new to the rank of Jonin you probably don't know but Ibiki is the head of Torture and Interrogation for the ANBU. But he specializes in mental torture, not physical."

"We just have to have faith in them then," Kurenai stated firmly the other two nodding their heads. 

Inazuma just continued on staring out the window that she was leaning against. "What about you? Are you worried Winter is going to fail?" Kakashi asked her. 

She scoffed her eyes lighting up with amusement, "No... one thing that I know for sure is that Winter is going to make it through the exams because she has something else your teams don't." She paused her eyes narrowing, "Though I am worried about something else. A Genin from the Mist... who used to belong to the Shadow Village." 

"What do you mean? And wasn't the Shadow Village destroyed a couple years ago?"

Inazuma sighed, "Yes it was. And Winter.... unlike your Genin she knows the outside world, she has experience, but most of all." The sky outside stayed the dark gray it had been all day, "She has motivation... conviction." Inazuma looked at them, "She will destroy anyone who gets in her way, who tries to stop her from reaching her goal. And I feel as though that Mist Genin may get in her way." 

Kakashi looked at her, "What do you mean?" 

"Let's just say Winter used to belong to another village, one well known but not as big as say the Leaf village. So if that Shadow turned Mist Genin find out her origins there is no doubt he will want to fight her to the death."

Kurenai spoke up, "So you are worried about Winter potentially dying?" 

Inazuma's eyes darkened, "No... I'm worried about how far she will go when she finds out where he is from. I'm worried about her showing the world who she truly is and what she is capable of because only the gods know just how far her limits reach."