Preperation

Anko had a smile on her face as she stuffed her face with dumplings.

Whilst they were at the dumpling shop to talk about "team strategy," in reality they both were able to unwind and chill whilst scheming.

Honestly, Anko was a little relieved that Idate was not joining them. Not only was he a spoiled brat in several ways, but he was also extraordinarily weak; at least by her standards.

Regardless, after several minutes of procrastination, Mizuki and Anko finally decided to stop procrastinating and do their work.

(A/N: I could learn a thing or two from that statement considering I'm supposed to be doing homework right now)

Anko: "Alright so considering that the sensei advised us not to eat, we should probably take his advice but bring rations with us"

Mizuki agreed with her analysis. Whilst he already was 95% sure that Orochimaru was going to give them the bell test he couldn't say that as it would make no sense how he knew.

So it was time to pretend to be Sherlock Holmes.

Mizuki: "I've got an idea"

Anko: "I'm all ears"

Mizuki: "So Orochimaru was originally one of the Sanin right?"

Anko: "Yup, what about it?"

Mizuki: "Then why don't we just try to ask Lord Third what test he gave them when they were genin"

Anko: "Sounds like a plan."

Mizuki and Anko stuck around the dumpling shop for another ten minutes, finishing off their plate before getting up and walking towards the Hokage's Office.

It happened to be the end of the month, so Mizuki had an alibi to visit him anyways to get his next monthly paycheck.

Mizuki: "Greetings Hokage-sama"

Hiruzen: "Ah, Mizuki. Come on in, I have your allowance right here"

Mizuki then entered the hokage's office as he noticed the aging hokage rummaging through a file cabinet until he found what he was looking for.

Hiruzen: "Aha! Here It is!"

Mizuki: "Thank you Hokage-sama"

As Mizuki was leaving the office he quickly turned around to Hiruzen to ask the question.

Mizuki: "By the way Hokage-sama, what kind of training did you do when you were teaching genin?"

Hiruzen had a reminiscing smile on his face as he spoke.

Hiruzen: "Oh yes I remember it like it's yesterday! What I did was a legendary test called "Nice Try, Get out of My Office""

Hiruzen had an amused smirk on his face as he said the last part, removing Mizuki after he got his allowance.

As he left the building, Mizuki noticed Anko waiting for him.

Anko: "Did you get anything?"

Mizuki: "Nope. He could read me like a book"

They then both looked at one another and sighed. They had known that the chances of this strategy working were basically zero but they wanted to try.

Regardless, Mizuki and Anko then went to her apartment to plan out the remainder of their strategy.

Apparently, Anko was in much the same situation as Mizuki where both of her parents were lost during the last Ninja War.

Similar to Mizuki, Anko had her own apartment and also had an allowance given to her by the hokage each month.

Mizuki and Anko quickly bounced ideas back and forth on what the test would be, from an obstacle course to a scavenger hunt.

Of course, Mizuki waited for a whilst before slowly manipulating the conversation to allow him to give his actual theory.

Mizuki: "What if all three of us are fighting the sensei?"

Anko: "Why would we have that? Most genin would probably get their asses kicked. Hell, we probably would."

Mizuki: "Unless skill wasn't the main criteria.."

Anko: "What?"

Mizuki: "Sure, maybe it is a prerequisite but I don't think they are testing are skills in this test. I think it's something else. Hm...Oh! I know! Teamwork!"

Mizuki had a genuine proud smile on his face. Happy that he was able to make his conjecture appear somewhat natural.

Anko: "That's a bit of a long shot. Still, it's the best we've got so far."

Mizuki and Anko then continued to bounce ideas back in forth until they established what the test would most likely look like.

1. The Test would be testing how they work as a team

1b. To win, you don't necessarily need to beat the sensei, just show teamwork.

2. The sensei would try to make this goal less obvious by creating a fake win condition which could only be fulfilled by a certain number of members in the team.

3. The test would involve combat with the jonin instructor, with all three of them trying to get after him

4. Food may be used in some way. be it as a bribe or some other way.

Although the list ended up looking short, it took delicate manipulation of conversation and quite a bit of time for them to come up with that list.

Honestly, Mizuki wasn't even mad about it. Anko could even come up with ideas about the tests with only some basic clues and was also very open minded.

Not to mention the fact that they were not on task a lot of the time, as they ended up just chatting and hanging out when they were supposed to be researching.

By the time Mizuki looked outside, he realized that it was pitch black out.

Although some restaurants were still open, most places had already closed down for the night.

Right when he was about to get up and leave however, Anko interrupted him.

Anko: "Hey Mizuki, you shouldn't waste time heading back to your place, we need to get as much sleep as possible for the test tomorrow. I mean, who the hell makes a test at 4am"

Mizuki had a light smirk on his face as he watched her rant.

Mizuki: "Ok, so what's the alternative."

Anko: "I have got a spare couch here, you can just crash there"

Just as Mizuki was about to immediately refuse however, Anko stared at him with an innocent expecting look in her eye"

It was almost like puppy dog eyes but not.

It was even more powerful.

Mizuki sighed to himself as he couldn't bring himself to say no.

Mizuki: "alright, sure."

Mizuki and Anko then got ready for bed before getting into bed/couch.

Anko: "Mizuki?"

Mizuki: "Ya?"

Anko: "Goodnight"

Mizuki: "'Night, Anko"

Soon enough, the two teammates fell asleep. Anxious for what was to come the next day.