Hello everyone reading. I probably should have done this when I started putting this story up, but I was 1) Lazy 2) Didn't think it needed it. But I think I was wrong, this story does somewhat need author's notes, especially when the whole story revolves around OCs and uses a whole bunch of Japanese names, so I'm going to just put profiles up for teams for every chapter so you readers can keep up with main characters and such. :) Happy reading!

Mamoru took in the smell of the salty sea breeze. This was unusual for him, because he lived in the land-locked Leaf Village, but today he was in the Hidden Mist Village. He could barely see the ocean from his ocean view hotel room, for there was way too much mist obscuring his vision. He and his team were there for an important mission though: to complete the Chuunin exams. The rest of his team was not awake yet, for the exam would not start for a couple more hours, but he wanted to be ready early to prepare for the challenges that awaited him.

"I heard you're going to complete the Chuunin exams," Neji said as Mamoru walked to where his team was meeting to leave.

"I am, so?" Mamoru replied.

"Heh, no matter how much you train, no matter how high rank you become," Neji said, "You still will never be a true Hyuga."

"Shut up!" Mamoru yelled, punching at Neji, who dodged.

Neji then pressed his palm to Mamoru's chest, sending him flying into a wall.

"Without the Byakugan, you'll never be a true Hyuga. The fact that your dad murdered one of our clan members also doesn't help your cause. You're hopeless." Mamoru just panted as Neji walked away.

This was not new to Mamoru. Almost all of the Hyuga members talked to him like that. Well, maybe all of them except for Hinata, but she never was one to talk much anyways. She was probably thinking it though. Born without the eyes. He hated his so called family.

As he got ready, a rush of jealously ran through him when he looked at his teammates, Arisu and Eri. They had both of their parents. They had siblings. Arisu, being from the Inuzaka clan, always had love from her family. Eri, from the Nara clan, always spent time with hers. It was illegal for Mamoru to spend time with his dad. His mom couldn't love him anymore since she was in the grave. But his jealousy of his teammates never turned to hatred. Arisu and Eri were still his friends. They worked well as a team. Arisu would find their opponents, Mamoru would stop any Genjutsu their opponents used, Eri would trap their opponents in their own shadows, and then Mamoru and Arisu would deliver a beat down. It is why they were chosen during their Genin exams to be a team together. The team had an unspoken bond between them during the bell test against their sensei Kaede. Arisu and Eri had already been friends since the academy, but Mamoru had been a very quiet person, only spoken when he needed to. It wasn't until after the team was assembled that Eri and Arisu broke him out of his shell and he started to gain friends.

While he got ready, a scroll was magically diffused through the door to his hotel room. A little confused, he picked it up and read it:

"This is the first stage of the Chuunin exam: Your team must go to the Island of Death with this scroll and another scroll. The other scroll is held by the team shown below from the village hidden in the Mist. Your team must survive and obtain the scroll from the other team and bring the two scrolls to door number twelve at the Chuunin building on the Island of Death within five days."

When his team awoke, Mamoru showed them the scroll.

"So what we have to do is get to and through this island AND get a scroll from those Mist guys?" Arisu asked, getting a bowl of Captain Yamato's cereal.

"That's what it sounds like," Mamoru replied, "One of our biggest challenges will be to cross the sea to get to the island."

"I thought I saw a ferry to that island when I was exploring this village," Eri suggested.

"It really can't be that easy..." Mamoru wondered.

"We'll just have find out after we meet up with our friends," Eri smiled, finishing her granola bar.

Mamoru's team walked to a large fountain near their hotel. Three ninja were already waiting for them, two blonde twins and a girl from the Hyuga clan.

"Arisu! Eri! Mamoru! Over here!" one of the twin blondes, who had let his hair down, yelled energetically. This was Ko of the Yamako clan. He was the louder of the twins, but the two were louder than Mamoru's taste, but Mamoru had to admit that their loudness added to their friendliness. After his mother died and his father left, Mamoru wanted to commit suicide. The main reason he didn't was because he held onto the dream that his father could return to the village, but the twin's friendliness towards Mamoru helped a little too. They were the only people to talk to him during his academy years. For that, Mamoru was very grateful to them, despite their loudness.

"We can clearly see you," Eri replied walking over to the team, "Where's Fumio's team?"

"Still asleep I guess," the other twin, Kou, responded, "When you have an all boys team, its really hard to get up. Kyo had to drag us out of bed." The Hyuga girl, Kyo, spit out her tongue at the twins. She refused to look at Mamoru. Only quick glances. According to Arisu and Eri, Kyo was a very spirited girl with a yippie personality much like Ko and Kou's, but Mamoru never really saw it. She was like the rest of the Hyugas to him: trash.

That is when another team of three walked towards the group. The team was made of up all boys, one wearing glasses, one with spikes on his limbs and wearing a green jumpsuit, and the other clearly being from the Abrame clan. "Sup guys," the guy with glasses said, waving.

"Fumio!" Eri screamed, running over to the guy and giving him a quick smooch.

"Wake up late Kin? You remember what Lee-sensei told us to do while we were here. 6 AM sharp for 5 mile run remember? I did mine," Ko asked the ninja with the green jumpsuit.

"That is why I woke up at 4 AM to run a 10 mile run!" Kin responded proudly, "I knew that's what Lee-sensei would have wanted me to do!"

"And that's the reason you'll be tired for the first exam!" the Abruame clan member complained.

The Abruame clan member was named Hachrio. Mamoru didn't know much about him other than he had a bunch of older brothers and sisters and was special in his clan because he used spiders or something. Kin on the other hand Mamoru did know. Kin and Ko are a very tight couple because they both specialize in Taijutsu and are taught under Rock Lee. They offered Mamoru to join their training but he refused. Mamoru could barely stand Ko, let alone Kin and the goofball Rock Lee. Mamoru has heard stories about Lee from Neji and gave the impression that he is louder than Ko and Kin combined.

Fumio, on the other hand, Mamoru does know quite well and that is because he is in a relationship with Eri. They spend a lot of time together, him, Fumio, Eri, and Arisu. They've been on a couple missions together, they've done some talking, but they were not too close. The minute the relationship between Fumio and Eri ends, Mamoru would not care if he never saw Fumio again.

"So did you get the same scroll we did?" Fumio asked taking out a scroll.

"Seems like it," Mamoru replied.

"Yeah! How the heck are we suppose to cross a sea!" Ko complained.

"We could always take the ferry," Eri suggested.

"Uhhh... there's a ferry?" the twins said in unison.

There was. After only fifteen minutes of searching, they found the ferry. Mamoru quickly realized why it was so easy though: everyone had taken the ferry. There were ninjas from all over the world and all shapes and sizes. If anywhere, their scroll would be here. Before they got on, the teams decided to split up to look for their targets.

After the ferry took off, the captain came out onto the deck. "I know what all you ninjas gotta do," he said, maybe a little drunk, "So you can do it on this ferry as long as you don't destroy mah boat. And please, not too much blood."

'What the hell is this place?' Mamoru thought, 'They blatantly tell people that they can kill each other?'

"Well then, let me be the first to start!" a Mist Village ninja with claws said. He was accompanied by a very large Mist ninja with a club with a large spike driven through it. The claw ninja attacked a Leaf ninja but the Leaf ninja blocked with a kunai. The Leaf's team got into their defensive formation. Then another claw ninja came out of the first claw ninja's shadow and attacked the blocking Leaf ninja successfully. The club ninja knocked one of the other Leaf ninja overboard as the original claw ninja attacked the last Leaf ninja successfully. He grabbed the Leaf ninja by the face and held her up. He then searched her bag and pulled out a scroll. "Since I found my scroll first, do I get a prize?" the claw ninja asked sarcastically.

"Actually, you're not the first," a female cloud ninja said walking out of the crowd with a scroll in her hand, "You're just the first to announce it publicly."

"What! How did you get our scroll!" a Leaf ninja exclaimed.

"Items can be obtained by more than just force Mist ninja," the cloud ninja explained.

"You'll pay for that!" the Leaf ninja said taking our shuriken, but stopped when he realized a Cloud ninja behind him had a sword around the Leaf ninja's neck.

"And you'll pay if you throw those," he said, "How confident is your aim with those? How much do you underestimate my girlfriend? Because if you throw those, you're dead."

"Get off the ship, there's no reason for you to be here," the female Cloud ninja commanded the group of Leaf ninja. The Leaf ninja just stood. "Stop trying to figure out how you'll get out of this situation. You lost. Now leave with your lives. Don't make me start counting." The leaf ninja looked at each other, and complied, jumping off the ship to the water below and swimming to shore.

"This doesn't look good," Eri whispered into Mamoru's ear.

"Yeah, but this just shows us that we just have to be careful.

On another side of the boat, Ko, Kou, and Kyo had watched the fight. "Hey Kyo, use your Byakugan to see if our target is here," Kou commanded.

"Aye," Kyo obeyed using her kekkei genkai. "I don't see them," she reported.

"Well then, looks like we'll have an easy trip then," Ko said, leaning against the guard rail of the boat.

"We'll have a tough time in the forest though brother," Kou replied, not as optimistic, "We'll have to survive through the entire forest and try to find our target there."

"At least I get to rest!" Ko laughed.

"It's getting late," Arisu said a couple hours later, "I think Eri and I are going to head to the sack."

"You have the scroll, right?" Mamoru asked.

"Yeah, are you not coming too?"

"Nah, I'll stay out here a little bit longer," Mamoru said, leaning against a railing and looking out to the open sea.

"Alright then, cya tomorrow I guess," Arisu waved as they headed into the cabin area.

Eri, Arisu, and her dog Rex walked down to the cabin, which was filled with hallways. They searched for the dorm they were assigned. "116, right?" Arisu asked looking at a door that read "116".

"That's what that key says," Eri said, putting the key into the lock.

"Hello girls." Arisu and Eri both turned around to see a Mist ninja leaning against the opposite wall. "Don't worry, I'm not after you scroll. I'm just here to say hello." The two girls just looked at each other in confusion. The Mist ninja had blonde hair and was chewing gum, every once in a while blowing a bubble and popping it. "My name is Yori of the Mist Village, and you two are?"

"I'm Eri, and that is Arisu," Eri responded, "Are you... trying to hook up with us?"

Yori did a fake gasp. "Of course not, unless there's a chance," he laughed.

"We both have boyfriends," Arisu said.

"Oh, well that's too bad," Yori said, "But I hope to see you in the next round." He waved as he walked to another girl, this one from the sand village and her team about six rooms away.

"What a loser, trying to pick up girls during the Chuunin exam," Arisu commented. However, Yori was not trying to hook up with this Sand Village girl.

Yori tapped the girl on the shoulder. "I believe you're the target for the first exam," Yori said as he blew a large bubble that surrounded the girl. He then sucked the bubble back in and the girl exploded with it.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO KAIRI!" one of the girl's teammates exclaimed making hand signs, "Wind style: Hurricane Jutsu!" A gust of air blew through the hallway, sending Yori back as the girl's other teammate started to take out a puppet. A cloaked figure ran through the hallway behind the two sand ninja. Before they had time to react, the cloaked figure took out a sword and sliced the two sand ninja's heads off, their blood splattering on the walls.

"Katsuro! Didn't you hear the ship captain? Minimum blood!" Yori scolded.

"But its more fun with more blood," the cloaked ninja said, now revealing his scarred, Mist ninja, face.

"But think about the ladies," Yori said pointed at Eri and Arisu, "They are probably disgusted by us now."

"Oh, I didn't realize there were bitches here," Katsuro said walked up to the girls, "I'm sorry for the mess. I hope that it didn't spoil your appetite."

"Uh... no," Eri lied, afraid that Katsuro would kill them at any second.

He just laughed, "See Yori, these bitches are cool. They know that a shinobi must kill."

"Yes, but they don't want to hear it," Yori replied, "Come on assface. Yuu is waiting for us."

"Fine gay boy, I'm coming," Katsuro said, turning away from two girls.

Yori turned around before turning a corner, "Arisu and Eri, right?"

"Yeah?" Arisu said, still afraid.

"Good luck," he smiled and turned the corner.

Soon after his teammates left his side, a girl walked up to Mamoru and also leaned against the railing with him. She was a Sand Village ninja with abnormally large boobs, a cut short shirt, and small pants. Mamoru felt a chakra tingle. "Hey," she said.

"Hey."

"What's up?"

"Just looking out at the sea," Mamoru replied seemingly uninterested in her.

"Thinking about anyone?" the girl asked.

"Not anyone in particular," Mamoru responded.

"Well I am," the girl said, "I'm thinking about you." She looked up at him. "I want to get to know you more. Want to come to my room so we can..." She started to roll her fingers over his arm, "Get to, know each other better."

"I've had enough of this," Mamoru said coldly grabbing her neck.

"What... what are you doing?" she exclaimed.

"You can come out now," Mamoru said as a Mist ninja walked out from behind some boxes.

"Ray! Your illusion sucks!" the Mist ninja said.

The girl transformed into a Mist ninja, "Sorry Den, I don't know how this guy figured me out."

"Trying to seduce me to get me to get my scroll. That would have worked on an ordinary Genin," Mamoru said, throwing the ninja he had in his hand overboard and turning around, "But I'm no ordinary Genin. I am Mamoru, destroyer of the Hyuga clan."

"Destroyer of the Hyuga clan? Big words from a Genin," the mist ninja said, "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu."

A great mist surrounded Mamoru in such a way he could not see his own hand in front of him. "You do know I don't have the scroll, right?" Mamoru asked.

"Of course. However now you can't find your teammates and help them," the Mist ninja snickered.

A knock came at Eri's and Arisu's door. Arisu got up from bed and check out who it was, to see Mamoru standing at the door. She opened it, "Hey Mamoru."

"Hey, just packing it in for the night," Mamoru said, taking off his shoes.

"You smell weird," Arisu said.

"What?" Mamoru asked.

"You smell like a Mist ninja," Arisu said, "Yeah, definitly like a Mist ninja."

"Shadow Possession jutsu," Eri smirked as Mamoru stood frozen.

"How the hell can you smell me!" Mamoru exclaimed as he turned into a Mist ninja.

"I guess you don't know very much about the Inuzuka clan, do you?" Arisu said, "We have noes like dogs. But... Where's Mamoru? Eri, take care of this guy, I'm going to see what happened to Mamoru!"

"Do you know the number one cause of shinobi death?" Mamoru said, grabbing his headband, "Underestimating their opponent. You underestimate me and my team, so of course you are going to lose."

"Bluffing doesn't help you," the mist ninja said.

"Oh, its not a bluff," Mamoru said taking off his headband. His exposed forehead opened up revealing an eye.

"A third eye?" the mist ninja exclaimed. Mamoru then charged at the Mist ninja, knowing exactly where he was, and punched the ninja in the face sending him flying. The ninja staggered up, "How... how can you see through the mist? Is it with that third eye?" The ninja took out a kunai and threw it at Mamoru. Mamoru blocked the kunai with his arms, and the mist ninja threw smoke bombs around Mamoru. "Your third eye doesn't do anything to weapons. I guess I'll have to bring out that training now." But as he said those words, his kunai knife was thrown from the smoke and stabbed him in the shoulder. "What? How did my knife not cut you?"

The smoke started to clear, revealing Mamoru and his third eye surrounded by a thin layer of chakra. "You keep underestimating me." Mamoru rushed at the ninja and grabbed his throat.

"Mamoru!" Arisu yelled, finally getting to the deck of the ship.

"Are you and Eri ok?" Mamoru asked.

"Yeah, we caught a Mist ninja," Arisu replied.

"So your name is Mamoru," a voice called out from a balcony on the ship. Mamoru looked to see the clawed ninja from before.

"Claw! Thank god! Help me!" the mist ninja in Mamoru's grasp begged.

"You don't deserve help, Den," Claw said, "Mamoru has a point when he says you underestimate everyone. You lost, now it up shitface." Claw then took out a book, "Strong ninjas carry around bingo books, lists of powerful ninjas they want to kill. I made one myself, listed people like the Hokage in here." He then got out a pen, "Now I can finally add a name that I have met. So you're Mamoru. Mamoru what?"

"I don't have a clan," Mamoru answered, "You can just list me as Mamoru, destroyer of the Hyuga clan."

Claw started to laugh, "You do have a big mouth. I'll just list you as Mamoru of the third eye. Has a certain chime to it." He closed his book after writing. "I hope to see you in the next round Mamoru of the third eye. You'll be the first name to cross out in my book too." Claw then left. Mamoru took the mist ninja's bag and threw him overboard.

"We just have to survive until we get through the island," Arisu said.

"I guess so," Mamoru replied, looking at the new scroll he held in his hand.