Secret Tests of Character in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- In Astronomy Domine
, while the crew of Deep Space 9 are trying to determine if the temporally-displaced Dean Winchester is a psychopathic killer, Doctor Bashir observes that Dean's basically passed one based on his reaction to the news that Castiel could take Dean back to their original era if Castiel burnt out his Grace. Dean's genuine grief and pain at the news that the only way he can go home is if his last friend basically kills himself assures Bashir that he isn't a psychopath or a sociopath, as a psychopath would have had a far more violent reaction and a sociopath would have insisted that Castiel do it anyway. - In The Boys: Real Justice, at one point the Justice League test Blue Hawk by having Martian Manhunter stage an apparent carjacking and claim when Blue Hawk arrives that the vehicle belongs to him and he simply locked himself out. Blue Hawk hears the full explanation, accepts the argument, and helps the Manhunter gain access to the car when he's posing as a white man, but attacks before the disguised Manhunter has even finished speaking when the Martian is in the form of a black man, prompting the League to take him into custody and force Vought to drop him from the Seven.
- The Confectionary Chronicles:
- The fic essentially opens with a test of character where neither party was aware that there was such a test or even intended to perform one until it happened. After Gabriel punishes the bullies who drove Hermione’s sister to suicide, in a manner that makes it clear to Hermione that Loki was responsible, Gabriel is intrigued by the fact that she doesn’t ask for anything more from him despite knowing that he’s real even as she continues to leave him tribute offerings, where most people basically start constantly asking a god for favours once they know there’s someone listening. Hermione’s maturity and devotion lead to Gabriel sending her various books on the history of magic, culminating in him agreeing to teach her more about magic in person, to the extent that Hermione becomes Loki’s priestess.
- Loki eventually gives Hermione a more conventional test when he concedes to her request to accompany him on a hunt, deliberately choosing a hunt where Hermione realises that the victims were killed by a Mongolian Death Worm that was relocated by a careless scientist, Loki trusting that Hermione will realise that nothing involved in the relevant deaths is outright ‘evil’.
- Hermione carries out her own small-scale test when Fleur Delacour asks to take part in a ritual to Loki; although Hermione always has a knife on her person, she tells Fleur to collect a knife herself to prepare Fleur for the reality of the ritual they’re about to perform.
- In Days of Justice, The Spectre, Doctor Fate, and Clockwork put Danny Phantom through a secret test to see if he still has the potential for evil like his evil future self by having the Spectre try to kill Vlad Plasmius and see if Danny will either intervene or stand by and let him be killed. Danny proves himself a true hero by standing in the way and protecting Vlad from the Spectre's wrath.
- In Debts, Mjolnir allows Xander to wield it to see what he'd do with the power. After a moment contemplating wiping out all vampires, Xander hands it back to Thor.
- Fallout: Equestria: Steelhooves often insults ghouls (undead ponies often discriminated against) to see how new people react. Since he's a ghoul himself under his armor, he has a vested interest in making sure he's not traveling with any racists. And since he's an Anti-Hero, racists tend to meet unfortunate "accidents" around him.
- In I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Harry Potter refuses to train Aayla Secura in magic until she angrily confronts him over the countless deaths she knows (via Force Vision) will occur. When he coldly asks what it matters as they'll be "one with the Force" and who cares if a few more innocents die when they die every day, Aayla shouts at him that she cares, at which point Harry agrees to train her. Even after realizing it was a test, Aayla isn't sure what the test was specifically.
- In May Your Heart Go Beyond, Midoriya places last in Aizawa's quirk apprehension test. Before the teacher can reveal that he lied about last place getting expelled, Sora volunteers to take Midoriya's place. Aizawa decides to delay revealing the ruse to see if Sora is truly heroic enough to go through with his promise, planning to expel him if he decides to back down. Luckily for everyone involved, Sora makes it clear that he would take Midoriya's place in a heartbeat, at which point Aizawa reveals the truth and keeps both kids in his class.
- Naruto the Shinobi Shaman of Konoha: When Kino tells Naruto that he'll have to abandon his dreams of becoming Hokage in order to help Anna, Naruto immediately declares that her safety and happiness are far more important. Naturally, Kino was lying, and is impressed by his resolve.
- In The Necromancer, Rumpel/Mr. Gold basically passes one when he meets Gandalf; when Gandalf chooses to greet Gold as a fellow wizard rather than show suspicion of the traits of darkness in his being, Gold reflects that Neal and Henry would be proud of him for having enough goodness in him to be greeted cordially by a being like Gandalf.
- It happens in Ward/The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim crossover Point Me at the Skyrim. When Victoria refuses to run an errand for Balgruuf, the Jarl suggests he might get her detained. Victoria refuses to back down, and Balgruuf admits he had no intention to lock her up. He just wanted to check her strength of character.Balgruuf: "Antares has a foresight that I can appreciate, even if her tone leaves something to be desired. Locking them away was never an option."
Antares: (annoyed) And you knew that. You were testing me.
Balgruuf: (apologetic) Always bait the riverbed for Slaughterfish before going for a wash, as my grandfather would have said. I knew you had steel, young Antares, but I wanted to see how it was molded. - The RWBY/Fate/stay night crossover RWBY Zero: Salem kidnaps Weiss Schnee, her brother Whitley, and her father Jacques. Eventually, Salem takes them to a pit full of Angra Mainyu's corrupting black mud and tells them if one of them jumps in, the other two will go free. Whitley shoves Weiss in, and fails the test. The whole point was to prove to Weiss that humanity doesn't deserve to be saved, which is why Salem didn't just throw her in herself. Weiss, incredibly angry at being betrayed by her own family, embraces the darkness and emerges from the pit, corrupted but stronger and now a willing servant of Salem. Whitley is quickly killed.
- In the Spider-X series, Peter is faced with an apparent test in Sensational Spider-X when he is rendered powerless after being 'cured' of the Man-Spider transformation. After a brief telepathic visit from Madam Web, it is implied that she arranges for Peter to regain his powers when he chooses to save Mystique when the two of them are trapped in a collapsed warehouse when it would be easier for Peter all round to just leave her and focus on trying to get out by himself.
- In Chapter 8 of Temporal Anomaly, it is heavily implied that One wasn't really interested in winning her purposed chess match with Sougo, but suggested it so she'll have the opportunity to see just what kind of ruler he planned on being, constantly poking, prodding, and questioning him throughout their match in order to gauge him herself on whether or not he truly would be The Good King he says he strives to be or if he would revert to his Evil Overlord ways like in his previous world.One: ...Now then, let us see who you truly are, Sougo Tokiwa.
- There Was Once an Avenger From Krypton: In Chapter 33 of The Girl Who Could Knock Out the Hulk, Doctor Doom attaches a Black Mercy to Kara, trapping her in her idealized reality with no memory of the real world, and then restores those memories to see which reality Kara picks. He's genuinely impressed when she chooses to reject the Black Mercy.
- In the Supernatural/Aladdin crossover Your Wish is My Command, Michael takes control of Dean's body and tries to get Jasmine to kill Sam by claiming that Sam is responsible for Aladdin's death (in reality Aladdin was just sent to the Winchesters' world when they entered the reality of the film). However, when Michael keeps insisting that Jasmine punish Sam, Jasmine denounces him as a demon, as in her religion a true angel would offer forgiveness rather than try to make her kill someone.
- In What Tomorrow Brings, Gafinilan basically gives Loren one when he gives her a pen and claims that it is a device intended to literally burn a Yeerk out of the Controller's brain with no harm to the host; it literally does nothing, but the ease with which she tried to use the alleged device on herself confirmed that she wasn't a host.
- Morality Chain: Azula intentionally leads Katara towards a Fire Nation soldier who had nothing to do with her mother's death, in order to see how she handles the situation. Katara bloodbends the man before confirming his identity; as a result, Azula refuses to help her any further, remarking on their similar temperaments.
- To Bind a Soul gives one to Angel when Cordelia receives a vision that reveals that the restoration of his soul is the reason that Ryan- the boy from "I've Got You Under My Skin"- had no soul; the curse could only restore Angel's soul by taking another's soul from them, and the only way to restore Ryan's soul is to remove Angel's. After the necessary ritual is performed, Angel finds himself in some kind of Heaven where Doyle reveals that Angel's willingness to sacrifice himself for Ryan, despite every argument in favour of letting things stand (such as Angel being able to do more good as a Champion than Ryan ever could as a human), has earned him the right to return to Earth with his soul not only intact but with the clause removed.
- Taaroko's Buffy the Vampire Slayer does this for Angel after he survives the final battle with Wolfram & Hart's forces; despite believing that he signed his Shanshu away, Angel is assured by his ‘guardian angel’- his sister Kathy- that not only is it impossible to sign away a destiny, but just believing he was giving it up actually made him more worthy, as it proved he wasn’t fighting the good fight for a reward.
- Second Chances: :All souls in hell are given one. If they pass, they earn another chance at life in the third world. If they fail, they stay in hell forever. Thus far, it's confirmed that Misa Amane, Teru Mikami, Emma Wakefield (though she may have had help), Rebecca Remira (Rem), and Light Yagami (Rae) have all passed their tests and moved on to the third world. The only one shown to have failed is Kiyomi Takada.
- In Moving Pictures II, Vimes suggests to a prospective member of Cable Street Particulars that torture is still a part of their methods. When the candidate absolutely refuses to take part in it, he is hired.
- Daughter of the Beast is a Beauty and the Beast one-shot fic that serves as a spin-off to Kissed by a Rose, looking at the character of Gwen, Belle's daughter, who was conceived when Gaston raped Belle shortly before she met the Beast. After Gwen realises her true parentage on her thirteenth birthday, while Belle and the now-human Prince assure Gwen that they see her as their daughter, Gwen privately wonders if she is anything like Gaston, only to be interrupted by an old man asking her for help. After she has led him back down to the great hall as requested, the "old man" reveals that he is another disguise of the Enchantress who cursed the Beast, and explains that this was a means of proving to Gwen that she's nothing like Gaston, as a truly cruel person would never have been able to tame their irritation enough to help a stranger like she just did despite already having a terrible day.
- One well-circulated example of this that went Off the Rails is "the Story of Noh" (NSFW due to Rule 34). A DM presented the players with a magical mail shirt and sword on a stand next to an adorable little girl, who was a spiritual construct programmed to respond to any questions with either "No" or "Please do not take this sword." It was supposed to be a test of the party's worthiness and so forth, but the players weren't sure what to do with her, so the Bard played a song, rolling high enough that the DM let the construct shed a Single Tear. The adventuring party proceeded to take the girl along with them, arguing over who got to carry her, grabbing the magic items for her to hold so she wouldn't keep trying to go back to them, and naming her Noh after her response when they asked what her name was. The DM had planned beforehand that one of the party's magic items would get a spirit bound to it as a reward, and after this episode made the obvious choice.
- When Guiche breaks up with Montorency in Soldier of Zero over her attempting to drug him with a love potion, she begs him not to and offers him anything he wants in return. Guiche demands she sleep with him but Montmorency refuses. At her refusal, Guiche is relieved and tells her he was testing to see if she was still the spitfire he fell in love with. However, he's still breaking up with her.
- The Tainted Grimoire: Luso had to go through one so a shopkeeper is satisfied that Luso is mentally and emotionally prepared to be a Fighter before the shopkeeper will sell him the necessary equipment.
- In Apex Predator, Apolline Delacour forces her daughter to let Apolline basically test Harry after he and Fleur start a relationship, Harry's ability to resist Apolline's allure even when he's already been left turned on by Fleur confirming to Apolline that he's just as strong as she claimed.
- In HJG: The Smartest Witch of Her Age? it's revealed that every year a student at Hogwarts is given a time-turner to attend all their classes and told to only use it to attend class. The Department of Mysteries is actually keeping an eye on them to see what they do with it; in over 500 years, Hermione and Percy Weasley are the only ones to fail the test by keeping their word and only using their time-turner to attend classes.
- It wasn't exactly a 'secret' in the traditional sense, but in The Power of Seven, Harry basically proves himself to Fleur when he resists her mother's attempts to 'seduce' him with her allure, explicitly rejecting Apolline's offer to be her 'pet' in favour of a more genuine relationship with her daughter.
- A more regular test occurs in chapter 57, when Tonks appears to be trying to seduce Ron and he tries to leave the room; in reality, Tonks and Lupin just wanted to confirm Ron's psychological condition after he was wounded by Greyback.
- In The Sky Is Orange, Harry is head of the Aurors, and interviews Auror candidates by insisting that the sky is orange, belittling them when they object, and threatening to turn them out the door. After the point of view candidate's pedestal breaks and shouts that Harry is wrong, Harry drops the act and reveal that the test was to see if the candidate would be too paralyzed by his rank and reputation to point out his mistakes. As he says, Aurors must always be open to giving and receiving criticism.
- In A Thing of Vikings, Snotlout and Hiccup (plus Astrid) are having a three-part contest of strength, speed, and wisdom in that order, best two out of three wins, with Astrid fighting on Hiccup's behalf in the first test and Hiccup racing Snotlout for the second. After they win the first two, Snotlout still insists on doing the wisdom test, even after others point out that wisdom is obviously his weakest area where he at least had a chance of breaking even in the other two. The test giver explains that in attempting to do so he has already failed. A wiser man would have known when he was beat and just walked away. Snotlout in his arrogance and stubbornness manages to lose all three tests, humiliating himself even further.
- In The Sun Will Come Up And The Seasons Will Change, it is strongly implied in Chapter 19 that the train deliberitally set things up so that Nora (a troubled Neo-Nazi teenager who ran away because of something she did to her brother) and Mary (an autistic girl who ran away after learning how much her mom hated her) were close together, and forcing the two of them interact so that Nora would hopefully shed her hateful views. Unfortunatly, she fails the test.
- It could also be possible the meeting was a test for Mary as well, as through her interactions with Nora, she learns how to stand up for herself and against ableism, that she isn't responsible for the actions or choices of other people, and to value the kindness of those who actually care for her. This is what gets her off the train and back home in the end.
- At the end of Gaz Dreams of Genie, it turns out that one was going on all story. If a genie bottle is broken, making a Selfless Wish is the only way for the breaker to avoid Becoming the Genie after using up their Three Wishes. Gaz, with her It's All About Me mentality, fails this particular test and gets to witness her life being stolen by Azie while she's stuck in the lamp and locked away in a Secret Government Warehouse.
- When meeting the raptor pack in Imprint, Claire is offered the chance to touch one of them. She declines, noting that she's not their handler and raptors aren't pets. While nothing is made of it, Claire is quite certain it was a test.
- In for a Penny starts when Harlan finds Ransom switching his medication and realizes Ransom's intention to frame Marta for Harlan's murder. When Ransom expresses his belief that Marta is just as conniving as the Thrombeys, Harlan proposes that he and Ransom collaborate to fake Harlan's death and witness Marta's reaction to see which of them is right about her. When Harlan reveals himself to be alive at the will-reading and only Meg has actually shown concern for Marta rather than turning on her, Ransom acknowledges that Marta is everything Harlan believed her to be, Harlan in turn taking the time to apologize to Marta for using her friendship in such a manner. It's also a test of character for the Thrombeys, to see if any of them actually are worth further investment or if they're all a lost cause, and when Meg doesn't join the rest of her family in turning on Marta, Harlan decides that maybe Meg and Ransom, who seemed to actually learn something from the bet, could still amount to something.
- The Bound Destinies Trilogy has two different examples:
- In Wisdom and Courage, The golden goddess (specifically Nayru) decide to test the princess's wisdom by initially presenting a Sadistic Choice to her: to use the Triforce to restore the lands of Hyrule and Termina, as well as their inhabitants, to the way they were before Veran razed both lands, or to bring Link, whose spirit had been destroyed in the final battle against Veran, back to life. Zelda declares that she cannot choose between them, stating that she loves them both too much and would rather die than to have to pick one. The goddesses approve of her choice and agree to restore both.
- It's revealed in chapter 36 of Blood and Spirit that much of the plot was one for Link. They had foreseen that Majora would try to corrupt Link, and used it to their advantage to see just how strong Link's Heroic Spirit was. In the final phase, after Link and Zelda are killed, they claim that only one of the two can return to life and stop Veress; when Link unhesitatingly agrees to do so even if he must live without Zelda, he passes, thus letting them both return to life.
- Crimson and Noire: In chapter 10, for the bowler hat contest, Marinette uses a real feather for her entry since she couldn't make a synthetic one in time. The feather triggers Adrien's Plot Allergy, and Gabriel decides not to have him model the hat for the upcoming summer fashion show even though Marinette won the contest. Rather than panic, Marinette explains what happened to lead her to use a real feather, and she points out that since the show isn't for a couple of months, she can develop a suitable synthetic feather in time. Gabriel replies by saying that was the answer he was expecting and allows Marinette's hat to be used in the show once it is ready since he was impressed by her creativity and professionalism.
- The Karma of Lies: One gets improvised when Luka and Marinette find Juleka alone on the Liberty. Marinette hides and listens in while Luka sits down and talks with his sister, giving her a chance to hear what Juleka thinks about the whole situation without Juleka knowing that she's there.
- In LadyBugOut, Ladybug visits Chloé in order to explain to her why she won't be allowed to wield the Bee Miraculous anymore. Noticing that she has the Bee's box, Chloé snatches it out of her hand, declaring that she'll prove her worthiness... only to find that it's empty. Realizing too late that Ladybug only brought it along to test her, and that she just failed, she can only stamp her feet and declare that she didn't really want to be a superheroine anymore anyway.
- The Lament Series (ChaoticNeutral): One of these bites Chloé hard during Chloé's Lament, after she Wishes to trade lives with Marinette. One of her main motivations for doing so was her belief that this would ensure she'd become the Ladybug Heroine in the new reality; however, she had no idea how Marinette earned the Earrings, assuming they'd just be handed to her automatically at some point. While rushing to school, she thoughtlessly shoves past Master Fu, unaware that the old man she just knocked aside was the one looking for a potential heroine... which leads to Sabrina getting the Earrings instead when she helps him out.
- In Lenore Raven's Murder Mystery, this is key to Lady Noire's game: the whole thing is fueled by the words and actions of those trapped within it. Had the participants simply been honest with each other from the start, she would have held very little power. But the more they lie and turn against each other, the more things snowball out of control.
- There's More Magic Out There: Nathaniel's parents, both Monster Hunters, kidnap Juleka and tell their son that she had killed innocent people and that they must kill her. Under their pressure, Nathaniel gives in and stabs her, only for the knife to turn to ash on contact. The real test was for him to realize his parents were lying and stand up for himself and his friend, which he failed. Nathaniel, meanwhile, freaks out that he nearly killed his friend over a test.
- Cain: During their Entrance Exam, both Izuku and Katsuki go after the Zero Pointer in their respective test zones, but for completely different reasons. Despite believing he has nothing to gain from it, Izuku confronts the Zero Pointer in order to help Uraraka, unaware that this selflessness is impressing the U.A. staff. By contrast, Katsuki didn't pay any attention to the exam instructions, and attacks the Zero Pointer simply because he presumes a robot so massive must be worth plenty. Not that it matters much, given what Katsuki does after the exam...
- Failure to Explode: When conducting their entrance exams, U.A. does not inform any of the applicants that they can earn Rescue Points by protecting others. This is done to ensure that nobody is actually aiming to accrue them so that they can get a far better sense of everyone's characters. This trips up Bakugou; while he earns plenty of points for defeating robots, he doesn't manage to earn a single Rescue Point, not even accidentally.
- Green Tea Rescue:
- Izuku agrees to train with All Might without realizing that he already planned to train with Ochako. When Ochako finds out, All Might, after revealing his secret to Ochako as well as his encounter with Izuku, says that he won't train Izuku anymore, since he's so wracked by guilt over lying to Ochako that he won't be able to focus on the training, making Ochako beg him to take him back and not to worry about her, but All Might insists that his original plan is impossible, much to both teens' grief. All Might then announces that he plans to train the two of them, and the reason he did that is that he wanted to see if Ochako would try to take Izuku's place as the next vessel of One for All.
- During the Quirk Assessment Test, Izuku overhears Aizawa telling Shinso that he's the most likely to get booted, so he better give his all if he wants to stay. Izuku entertains the idea of using his Quirk to help him, but in the end, he decides not to for both moral (helping Shinso would mean kicking out another student more deserving to be there, plus that would mean Izuku doesn't have faith Shinso can pass the test on his own) and practical (Izuku's Quirk makes both him and the object he uses it on to glow green) reasons. After the test is over and, like in canon, nobody gets expelled, Aizawa tells Izuku he was fully aware of him listening to his conversation with Shinso and wanted to see if Izuku would cheat to help him or not, since Aizawa judged Izuku as somebody who will step up to help somebody, regardless if his help is needed or not.
- One for All and Eight for the Ninth: As he's wrapping up his explanation to Bakugo how his actions leading up to him very nearly killing Ochako have landed him an expulsion from UA and the label of an A-Ranked Villain, Nezu mentions that there's still an avenue left: he can put in a letter of recommendation to Ketsubutsu's Villain Rehab course. Bakugo very nearly leaps at the chance, but stops and admits that he's proven that he can't be trusted to make good decisions, so he leaves his fate up to Nezu. As he's walking out of the room and back to his office, Nezu sends the recommendation letter, noting that at least Bakugo managed to pass one test he'd given him.
- Peace's Apprentice: Thanks to Aizawa being a Sink or Swim Mentor who constantly subjects his students to psychological abuse under the veil of "logical ruses", his students initially mistake the USJ attack for another one of his tricks. What's worse, as he's made it abundantly clear that he has no sympathy for any level of mistakes or failure, several of them wind up panicking, which results in several fatalities.
- Prince Of Heroes: Much like canon and various My Hero Academia fanfics, rescue points are awarded for helping attendees when they get in trouble or are injured. Participants such as Bakugou who earn no rescue points are automatically denied entry under the basis that going through a dangerous scenario without helping anyone means they don't deserve to be heroes to begin with.
- Played With in Snap Before You Break, which centers around Izuku calling out Aizawa for forcing him to work with his Barbaric Bully. In the aftermath, Present Mic reveals to Izuku that Principal Nedzu was secretly treating the whole exercise as one; according to The Chessmaster, Izuku's real test wasn't to go through the exercise Aizawa intended, but to stand up for himself and his friends and push back against Aizawa's piss-poor management of Class 1-A. Present Mic freely acknowledges that this was incredibly manipulative on Nedzu's end, letting Izuku know he's more than free to call out the Principal for being a Hypocrite:Present Mic: If you want to go round two, this time on the manipulative Rat, nobody will blame you. Especially since he told us all that tidbit to ensure whichever one of us found you could clarify.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Cadance of Cloudsdale:
- In A Princess By Any Other Name, Cadance finds herself fighting the Equestrian Bureaucracy for the ability to change her name from Cadence to Cadance. It turns out that the whole ridiculously overcomplicated process was all Celestia's doing, in order to test the young alicorn princess's ability to handle stressful and unfair situations. Cadance fails miserably, and Celestia apologizes to Dotted Line for everything she got put through in the process.
- Sergeant Thunderous assigns Shining Armor to deliver Candance's baby book; however, the Royal Guards refuse to accept his authorization to pass. Again, Celestia is responsible for this, as she wished to test how far Shining Armor is willing to go to aid Cadance. He passes by virtue of forcing his way past the guards while praying Celestia will pardon him.
- Fluttershy's father in Friendship is Witchcraft tries to convince her that all his actions in her Hilariously Abusive Childhood were this. It doesn't work.
- Parting Words deconstructs this trope by showing the negative consequences of Princess Celestia constantly using this on Twilight Sparkle; Twilight eventually hits her Rage Breaking Point when Celestia attempts to send her off to save the Crystal Kingdom without sufficiently explaining just what is going on, prompting her apprentice to call her out before resigning from being her apprentice. It turns out that Celestia's overuse of this trope had not only caused Twilight to lose confidence in her own abilities, but made her incredibly paranoid that any given interaction with the princess was actually yet another test.
- In Princess Celestia: The Changeling Queen, it is revealed that Shining Armor actually failed the entrance exam for the Equestrian officer's academy because the exam was meant to be failed. Rather, the actual test was to see whether the applicant would cheat (Shining obviously didn't). The ruse, of course, wouldn't work if knowledge of it was widespread — that Alternia is able to recite back to him the true purpose of the exam is one of the things she uses to convince him and the rest of her interrogators that she actually is Princess Celestia (or rather, the one they had known their whole lives).
- In Vengeance of Dawn, the Elements of Harmony can be heard singing a siren song to "save us, redeem us" only by those who are not their rightful bearers, and would seek to wear them out of the desire for fame or power. When Dawn steals the Elements, puts them on her friends and tries to activate them, the Element of Magic begins to transform her into a demon, similar to what happened to Sunset Shimmer. Twilight and her friends, the Elements' true bearers, can't hear that song because they use the Elements as they were meant to be used: a means to protect that which is truly precious.
- Androgyninja's A Drop of Poison:
- Concerned that Sakura might be taking advantage of his son in order to curry favor with the Aburame, Shibi offers her the chance to join them for dinner. Sakura hesitates, self-conscious about her disheveled appearance after hours of training; she only accepts after noticing how excited Shino seems at the prospect. Her hesitance and clear consideration of Shino's feelings leave Shibi confident that her friendship is sincere.
- Shibi conducts another one when Sakura shows interest in one of their vines, asking if she can take a sample home. He notes that it's a favorite of their kikaichu, attracting plenty of the beetles. Rather than being repulsed, Sakura eagerly asks questions about why the kikaichu like them so much, to his private delight.
- Deconstructed with Kakashi: when Team Seven passes by a suspiciously out-of-place puddle in Wave Country, he does nothing to point it out, quietly taking note of which of his students notice it. Sakura is disgusted by the fact he's using the situation as a 'teachable moment' rather than warning his genin, recklessly endangering their lives in the process.
- A Case Study in the Sturdiness of the Rookie 9 plays with this: Shino misinterprets Kakashi's tardiness as a sign that their new jounin instructor is testing them, so he convinces Sakura and Chouji to leave the classroom with him and investigate. When Kakashi shows up and finds an empty classroom, he shrugs it off, telling himself that he'll just fail his genin for being impatient... only to discover that they figured out his identity, looked up his address, and disabled all of his security traps. He then decides to play along with their misconception, abusing their trust by pretending that his laziness and lack of engagement is simply "encouraging their independence".
- Hilariously subverted in A Father's Love. Contrary to fanfic reader expectations, Naruto's team is NOT given the "bell test" since they already know about it in advance. And since Kakashi knows that they know, he trolls them by changing the test conditions at the last minute.
- Played darkly in Glass Marionette: Kankuro's special, secret assignment during the Chuunin Exams is to frame Gaara as The Scapegoat in case the planned Konoha Crush goes wrong, manipulating the Leaf-nin into taking out Gaara or else killing his brother himself. Kankuro immediately decides he won't do it, unaware that his father anticipated this, ordering another puppeteer to spy on and murder Kankuro if he fails to complete his mission.
- In The Last Prayer, Ino has blackmail on Sakura that could potentially ruin her chances at a relationship with Sasuke, which Ino uses to humiliate and torment Sakura. Near the end of the blackmail, Ino reveals the whole thing was a test that Sakura failed profoundly. At any time, Sakura could have given up and accepted that her chances with Sasuke might be ruined, but she insisted on continuing even when Ino demanded she have sex with Naruto. Despite her claims, all Sakura proved was that she was unhealthily obsessed with Sasuke, though Sakura doesn't believe it herself until a conversation with Sasuke sees him threatening to murder her parents and Sakura realizes she was actually considering letting him.
- Naru-Hina Chronicles Mini-sodes: Parodied. After Hinago confesses to Naruko that he loves her, she comes to the conclusion, after remembering some advice from Slutty-Sage, that he just wants to get in her pants by saying that. Naruko starts removing her clothes as a result. However, when Hinago makes it clear that he does love her, he has an over-the-top blushing reaction and asks if she was asking to have sex with him. Before he could finish his question, Naruko has an over-the-top embarrassed reaction and says "What?! Umm... N-No... Th-This... This was... Err... A test... Yeah, a test of your intentions!"
- One Small Kindness: Daybreak has the first stage of the Chuunin Exams. Here, participants are sent on a scavenger hunt, which culminates in the proctor offering to pass the student at the expense of failing another genin from their village. In order to pass, participants must refuse this offer.
- In Reaching for a Dream, Naruto has promised he'll earn Xanna's (aka Kyuubi) love and marry her one day. She repeatedly explains that as she'll only marry someone as strong as her, he's better off loving a mortal woman instead of potentially killing himself trying to accomplish a likely impossible goal. When Naruto actually does start falling for a mortal woman (Tsunami), he breaks things off with her and keeps to his promise to marry Xanna. Xanna approves of his decision but also warns him that was his Last-Second Chance; now he must either fulfill his promise or die trying.
- The Married Couple has Rei Ayanami test Asuka to see if she truly loves Shinji. On the day of Shinji and Asuka's wedding, Rei, posing as Kaji, sends Asuka a letter asking her to find him. Asuka failed the test when she immediately abandoned Shinji to go look for Kaji and proceeded to ignore every one of Shinji's attempts to contact her.Asuka: It was you! You sent that letter to me, not Kaji! You sent me on a wild goose chase! You ruined my wedding!
Rei: (condescendingly) And it took you six months to figure that out? It was a test. And you failed.
- In This Bites!, Porche tries to seduce new crew members to the Foxy Pirates as one such test. She's rather pleased when Cross threatens her over it.
- In The AFR Universe story The Trickster's World, the main character is sent on a Journey to the Center of the Mind where every person he meets has a trial for him. Every trial is revealed to have a separate, secret test by one of the last people met. The main character, Yaldabaoth, fails every true test of his character. Ren's subconscious was aware of why Yaldabaoth was intruding on his thoughts (to see if he had to be killed in the end) and pulled no punches on him.
- Crimson Rising sees Marah and Kapri pass an open test of character when they accompany Prince Dex to retrieve the Yellow Zeo Crystal from the planet Triforia after the planet has been taken over by Ivan Ooze's forces; while Marah and Kapri assumed that Dex would be the one to retrieve the Crystal, which was currently hidden in the royal vault and would burn any evil being who tried to touch it, Dex has the two women retrieve it themselves to prove to them that they're no longer evil.
- In After the Fall of Giants, Kuno's mother tests Nabiki's feelings for Kuno by pretending to disapprove of the relationship and calling Nabiki a gold-digger. When Nabiki's response is to angrily snap at her and announce that she is going to have Kodachi and Kuno's names put on the Tendo family roster, Mrs. Kuno welcomes her to the family with open arms and gives her the Kuno family's katana.
- In Ranma Saotome, Chi Master, Ranma wants to test Akane's judgment and ability to push down antagonism. To do this, he makes sure Shampoo is present when he asks her what direction she would like to take her Chi training. He knew that Shampoo would suggest channeling rather than invocation, due to her relative lack of personal strength at the moment. He also knew that Akane didn't like Shampoo, and wanted to see if she could overcome her bias and use her critical thinking to make the right choice. Akane passed.
- In Mending the Knots, Team CRDL and Oreo Uziel are Caught on Tape attempting to set Rapier Wasps on the heroes. Unaware of this fact, they are given a chance by Ozpin to own up to their actions with the implication that if they do, their punishment will be less severe. Dove and Sky, genuinely repulsed by Cardin's actions, see the opportunity to make amends and take it, while Cardin, Russel, and Oreo fail the test and are promptly punished note .
- An interesting variation in The Devil You Know has Lord Maledict giving Tikal the Echidna three temptations to test her wisdom and faith in him. The fourth and final temptation is letting Tikal choose to damn her father Pachacamac to eternal suffering for his crimes, which she eventually refuses. Satan then tells her that there was no wrong answer to the choice - it was a test of how she would react to having power over others. As a reward for passing his trials, he gives her a Super form and turns her into a Demon Princess.
- Daniel Jackson faces this in What You Already Know Pt 7: Resolutions (part 7 of the What You Already Know fanfic series). The people of Earth are negotiating with an alien world inhabited by humans for the right to set up a colony on the alien world. Daniel, who is representing Earth in the negotiations, is called to a private meeting with a woman who is one of the alien world's leaders. The woman comes on to Daniel, implying that if he doesn't sleep with her, she'll convince the other leaders of her world to refuse to let Earth have its colony on their planet. Daniel refuses to sleep with the woman despite that, refusing to sacrifice his morals just to get Earth a colony. Later on, it's revealed that the leaders of the alien world wanted to know that they were negotiating with an honourable man, so set the whole thing up as a test of Daniel's character. Since he passed, they agree to let Earth build a colony on their world.
- In the Star Trek: The Next Generation fanfic Civil Disobedience (published in Strange New Worlds I), Q is ordered not to interfere with the Borg's assimilation of humanity, after Picard is turned into Locutus and the Enterprise is destroyed trying to stop him, as part of Q's probation since regaining his powers in Deja Q. Q believes that disobeying his orders and interfering anyway will result in his powers being taken from him again, or even in his immediate execution... but because Picard and the Enterprise saved his life in Deja Q, and because Picard becoming Locutus is arguably his fault, he decides he would rather be killed/made mortal than bear the guilt of not interfering. So he causes the Enterprise's weapon to short-circuit and destroy itself rather than the ship, which leads eventually to the defeat of the Borg before they can assimilate Earth (in canon, La Forge warns Riker that the use of the weapon could well destroy the ship; Riker orders it done anyway, because it seems their only hope, but it destroys itself before it has any effect on the Borg. This leads the crew to have to solve the problem creatively, by kidnapping and de-assimilating Locutus, which wouldn't have happened if their ship had blown up.) It turns out that Q's willingness to defy the Continuum in order to do the right thing was the final test required to get him off probation. Q is somewhat pissed off that his fellows were actually willing to let the Borg destroy humanity to teach him a lesson, but mostly he's just happy he passed. It's not like he's got a lot of room to complain, given the stuff he's been willing to allow to teach mortals a lesson.
- A Star Trek: The Next Generation fanfic called the Fifth Light has Q watching helplessly as Picard is tortured by the Cardassians. The Q Continuum are fed up with his fraternizing with the humans and henceforth set up Picard to be captured and tortured as seen in the episode "Chains of Command" since Picard is Q's favorite human. Q is not allowed to rescue Picard or else he will get in trouble, but he does provide moral support to Picard and gives him peaceful visions to alleviate the pain of his brutal torture. Eventually the Q Continuum confronts Q about his assistance towards Picard, and they tell him in no uncertain terms that they will banish him permanently if he does anything more to help Picard... and this time he won't get to "go on exciting adventures with your favorite Captain, should he survive. We'll find a nice isolated planet for you to rot on." Ultimately Q muses over how special Picard is to him and decides that a universe without Picard wouldn't be worth living in anyway, and so he decides to help Picard one last time. Q arrives to see Picard suffering at the climatic conclusion of Chains of Command, where he defiantly refuses to admit there is a 5th light, and so manifests himself as the 5th light so Picard won't be tortured anymore. Picard notices the 5th light but he hesitates to admit its existence, and Q is internally begging Picard to call out that there are 5 lights. Then the Enterprise arrives to rescue Picard, leaving Q to realize his assistance was unnecessary and he stops showing the 5th light, leaving Picard to defiantly utter out his famous "there are four lights." Q is then confronted by the Continuum and Q defiantly says that he is welcome to whatever fate they have in store for him, and he regrets nothing and that he would do it again... only to be told by his fellow Q that he passed their test. Apparently Q's family wasn't truly convinced that he had been reformed, or that he truly cared about others, but by showing that he was willing to sacrifice himself for Picard they accept that he has been redeemed.
- The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fic Minister of Lies sees Sisko, Odo and Dax learn that the current Bajoran First Minister, Shakaar Edon, was a Cardassian collaborator responsible for raping and murdering Bajoran women during the Occupation. Since Odo has recently revealed his own romantic feelings to Kira Nerys before she departed on a mission to the Gamma Quadrant, and she stated her intentions to make a choice between Shakaar and Odo once she returns, Odo asks that Sisko and Dax give him time to learn Kira's choice before they reveal Shakaar's past to her, as otherwise he would always wonder if she would have chosen him over Shakaar without that knowledge. Kira affirms that she chose Odo before she learns the truth about Shakaar.
- Supreme Chancellor Obi-Wan Kenobi: Zigzagged. Anakin has been given several such tests before, so when Obi-Wan is critically injured, Mace Windu explicitly states that the offer for him to return to Coruscant is not a test. If Anakin thinks he can still lead his men, he'll be allowed to. If not, Luminara Unduli will take over and Anakin can return to Coruscant with no repercussions.
- In A Sword to Pass, Bo-Katan pulls one on her nephew Korkie when he wants to bring back the Old Guard. She out right refuses to let him do so and tells him he will do as told. Korkie, who is already frustrated by her past behavior with him, snaps and says he will bring back the guard to protect the people rather she likes it or not. He even is about to pull his blaster on her, but she gets hers into his chest first. Then she compliments him on his backbone and not only grants his request but gives him a seat on her council. Her reason for this is that other representatives for the pacifist Mandalorians have been assassinated and that the pacifist need someone of strong will to represent them amongst the warrior Mandalorians.
- A drabble starts with the Mystic Man giving Wyatt Cain a promotion to full Tin Man status (the Tin Men are an Ozian law enforcement organization). The confused Cain questions the Mystic Man's decision, since he let a petty thief get away in order to tend to a sick old beggar in the streets. The Mystic Man simply explains that prioritizing compassion over strict interpretation of the law IS the mark of a Tin Man, and the whole thing was a test.
- In Everqueen, before giving Isha more freedom, the Emperor deliberately tries to anger her as much as possible, to test her self-control.
