Then - the importance of the tenth question, and deciding whether to go into enemy territory at all, whether to risk yourself for the mission.

He's getting quite into the spiel when the glass on one wall explodes inwards, a black ball of cloth flying through the air, resolving into four kunai thunking into each corner of the back wall, unveiling a banner with a woman in a Konoha headband standing before it. "You guys!" she shouts, "This is no time to be celebrating! I am the examiner for the second test, Mitarashi Anko! Now let's go!"

Perhaps this one will involve fighting.

"Anko, you're early," Ibiki says, then gets into a brief argument with Anko about whether he went too soft on the genin, having left eighteen teams.

"Psh. Doesn't matter. I'll cut them in at least half," Anko says, glancing over the assembled genin. "I'm getting impatient. I'll explain the second test once we're at the training ground. Follow me!"

There is a general shuffling, and she leads them to an enormous fenced in training ground on the outskirts of Konoha, where she proceeds to explain the second test - each team will be given a scroll, Heaven or Earth, and they'll have to obtain both scrolls and then make it to the tower at the center of the forest within five days. She's clearly trying to unnerve them throughout the speech; it's not working on many of the genin who outlasted Ibiki, but it is on some.

Rian flashes her sharingan when Anko shows the map, memorizing it; luckily she's fairly close to the front.

Circular arena, tower in the center, river running like so, forest, cliffs. Simple enough.

Big space. The trick will be finding a team with the right scroll to take.

They're directed to a covered booth to pick up their scrolls, and then to their gates. Mariko spends the time picking apart the chakra signatures of the scrolls - there's subtle differences, she thinks, but they definitely contain seals of some kind. 

Mariko tilts her head, frowning, then - "There's two teams we should be avoiding. That Sand team, and the Grass team - they feel weird, like their chakra's compressed, and I don't like the emotions I was getting off them. The Grass team is only a few gates down... To our left's that Rain team, I think we should go for them. I can't really tell at this distance, but - I think when we get close I'll be able to tell if they have the same type of scroll as us or not. The chakra's a bit different."

"Right. One of the Rain team had covered eyes, we'll need to be on the lookout in case he's a sensor, but that sounds like a solid plan to start."

And then the signal to begin comes, and the gates open. Team Seven rush through, following Mariko's lead.

"Do you have a plan?"

"The Rain team that started at the next gate has the scroll we need. We find them, take their scroll, and go to the tower. And I will kill anyone who gets in the way."

...Right.

"How do you know that?"

"I was watching. Let's go."

They find the Rain team in a clearing.

"How foolish... Challenging us head on like this," the apparent leader says. "You'll just die."

The cork of Elieyha's gourd pops off, and a thick stream of sand swirls out, pooling around her feet.

She stands impassive, arms crossed, facing the other ninja.

Her companions stay behind her.

The Rain shinobi tosses his umbrella in the air so it spins, throwing out numerous large senbon that curve and fly straight for Elieyha.

The sand rises in a curtain around her, shielding her from the needles' impacts. When the rain is exhausted, it collapses back to the ground and the metal falls with it.

She cocks her head. "Finished?"

He jerks in surprise. "Why you brat - "

"Desert Coffin."

The sand rushes forward, wrapping around, stiffening, and completely encasing him.

He shouts something incomprehensible, and his teammates jump back, hands going to their weapons.

With a twist of chakra the sand rises into the air. Elieyha reaches forwards and picks up a fallen umbrella, opening it and resting it against her shoulder.

She smiles, clenching her hand. "Desert Funeral." The binding implodes, showering the area with wet, sticky sand.

One of his teammates screams. The other one shakily takes their scroll out of his bag and places it on the ground. "We'll - we'll give you the scroll! Just let us leave!"

"I'm not finished yet." More sand reaches out and grabs both the remaining Rain ninja. "Don't worry, you won't have time to feel the pain."

Take a moment to savor, then- "Desert Funeral."

One team down. What scroll did they leave behind?