The Leaf village had decided to host the years chunnin exams meaning that the place was teeming to the brim with people from different places and their students. Genma sighed heavily watching from the gates as more people arrived the day before the exam. A flash caught his eyes and he quickly hopped down from a higher post to a shorter one watching as a young boy raced through the crowds. The boy was no older than nine with big round mossy eyes. He zipped past a shop keeper almost knocking the elder man down; the boy's black knit hat fell off in the process. Genma wondered if he should do something just before a woman suddenly appeared from literally nowhere and clotheslined the boy knocking him flat on his back. She put her hands on her hips glaring down at him. Genma's mouth hung open a ways the toothpick beginning to fall out slightly. The woman was amazing. Honestly, he'd never seen a woman quite like her. She was tall with long aqua hair hanging in a tight ponytail at her back to her hips. Her eyes were narrowed on the boy but it didn't hide their magenta luster. He scratched his head watching as she grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt and hauled him up smacking him on the back of the head.

"What did I tell you about running off Hotori?" she snapped her voice was dangerously controlled. The other boy stopped breathing hard to stand beside her; the opposite of the teacher's other student. This one was slender and lithe with pale sickly skin and dark rimmed eyes like he was exhausted. He had shaggy grey hair hanging to his shoulders. He sighed looking up at the woman railing into the boy she held tightly.

"SENSEI! I WANT TO SEE THE EXAM GROUNDS!" The one named Hotori shouted swinging his arms in all different directions. The woman sighed running her free hand over her face setting him down holding him there.

"You're not going anywhere." She said glancing at the other boy. "Ataku will you go get us a table at the pork restaurant we saw when we came in?"

"PORK!" Hotori screamed before he was smacked in the head again.

"We are in someone else's village boy! Act respectful." She said sighing before ruffling his hair. "Now, come on."

Raidou watched as Genma was literally rendered useless for village surveillance. Sometimes his friend was horrible to keep on task and it was usually when it came to women. He'd see one and he'd run after them. That's how Raidou knew something was different. Genma didn't try to approach the woman. He just stood there watching with the toothpick balancing off his lip. He smirked chuckling trying to hide it by covering his mouth with his arm but it was too little too late.

"What are you laughing at?" Genma said lazily eyeing his friend.

"Oh nothing." He said looking up at the sky.

"Just shut up and watch the gates." Genma snorted annoyed. He couldn't help but keep the image of the woman with oceanic hair out of his mind's eye.

The following day began with normal procedure. Teachers brought their students towards the school buildings and were exchanging a few words with them before they let them go for the first event. Genma caught sight of the woman with oceanic hair bent behind a tree speaking with her two students. The conversation looked intent enough that even the young one who had been bouncing yesterday was paying attention. The woman put her hands on the two boys shoulders smiling softly before letting it fade. She got serious the set in her shoulders changing. Genma leaned in closer to hear what they were talking about.

"Boys. This is serious. We are from the Mist. People here do not like or trust our village." The younger boy frowned.

"But we haven't done anything to them." The other eyed him shaking his head.

"Our village has lied to a lot of these other villages." The woman nodded.

"Yes. Also, our village is known for killing. We can't be like that. I won't see you before the second part of the exam so I want you to listen carefully. I know that I've trained you to take a shot when you find one…but here…no kill shots. We are not here to kill. You don't take it. We do not need to give these villages any more reason to hate us. Got it?" she met eyes with the older boy Ataku.

"Yes Sensei." He nodded

"But why not?" Hotori asked raising an eyebrow.

"Because this place isn't like where we live. You're safe here. You don't have to fight for your lives." She stood up brushing her knees off. "Now, get in there before you're late. We don't need to make a bad impression." She shooed them off watching as the proctor ushered them inside the school.

Genma strayed into the fray of teachers watching their students go inside. There was nothing they could do to better prepare them now. From this point on the kids were on their own. He caught sight of a man in familiar maroon from the land of clay eye the woman he'd just watched. The man smirked before elbowing her out of the way and shoving past her. To her credit she only stepped aside rubbing her ribs annoyed….until….

"You're village shouldn't even be allowed in these exams after all we found out about the Akatsuki in the last war…the Mist created that band of jerks." The girl's shoulders stiffened now and she took a deep breath. Her eyes narrowed on him dangerously her hands in fists at her sides.

"You shouldn't judge one for the sins of others. Not everyone in my village was a traitor." Her voice was level but many turned around to stare at the two.

"Enough of them were. Your village even put a spy into Konoha! I'm surprised they let you back in." he laughed gesturing at her. "How do we know we can trust you?" he asked.

"You can trust that I haven't made any words to dishonor your village at this point." And there was plenty that she could reveal about the stone village if she wanted too. "It's not like you didn't contribute Deidara to the Akatsuki. You're not innocent yourself." The words slipped out before she could stop it. The man swung. Genma sighed. This was getting bad and fast. Raidou was nowhere in sight and he'd have to stop the fight before it got any worse.

"DAMN YOU GIRL! I'LL KILL YOU!" he shouted throwing a hard punch. Breifly, as if he hadn't really seen what he thought he had, the girl's skin became a maze of glowing purple scrolling lines. In an instant it was gone leaving him standing there blinking as if he'd never seen it at all. No one else seemed to notice so he had a feeling it might have been a type of genjutsu for distraction. Whatever it was, it worked. The man who had been about to punch her lights out was on the ground flat on his back.

"You shouldn't make claims that you can't back up." The woman said adjusting her pony tail's dark green ribbon while placing a hand on her hip. The man groaned looking up at her.

"What…was…"

"Nevermind what it was. Just stay out of my way and don't disrespect my village." She said calmly before noticing that several people had backed away from her in the process of the fight.

"I think you're going to have to come with me miss." Genma said unsure of what to expect. She made a face sighing and her shoulders shlumped forward.

"Ah, I guess I tell my students to behave and then I go and make a scene." She rubbed the back of her neck idly. "Yeah, I'll go with you. I'm sorry." She smiled standing back up. Something about her was egging at him and it was starting to tick him off. She was just so…so…entrancing…he wanted to know more about her.