"What in the world is going on?" Rin asked when she and Jiro got to the entrance of room 301 the next day. A large group of ninja were clustered around the doorway. Two ninja were guarding the door. One of them knocked back a boy with a bowl-cut hairstyle, a green bodysuit, and the largest eyebrows Rin and Jiro had ever seen in their lives. A brown-haired girl with her hair in two buns and wearing a pink shirt crouched down next to the boy.
"You're taking the Chunin Exam, but you can't even get past us? !" one of the ninja guarding the door said. He had two blades on his back.
"Why don't you just give up now before you get hurt," the other added.
"Yeah! I think I hear your mommy calling you!" the first one laughed.
"Please let us go through! We're supposed to go in there!" the girl said. She got up and walked towards the ninja, but was knocked back.
"That's harsh. . ." one ninja in the large group said.
"Did you say harsh?" the ninja with the blades asked. "Don't kid yourself! We're only being nice by comparison! The Chunin Exam will make THIS look like a picnic!"
"Some of you won't survive the exam, others will be wrecked for life, and some of you may go crazy!" the other said. "For Chunin, it's always life-or-death!"
"You think it's a joke? !" the first laughed. "Chunin are qualified to LEAD missions! The lives of your squad are in your hands, so you'd better be tough enough to take the heat! Delicate little girls don't belong here!"
"We're just thinning out the herd!" the second added. "You won't pass anyway, so just go home and play with your dolls!"
"Real nice speech," Sasuke said. Rin hadn't even notice his squad walk in. "Now both of you step aside and let me through. And reverse the genjutsu while you're at it; we can see through your illusion anyway. We're going to the THIRD floor."
"What does he mean? We're ON the third floor!" one ninja whispered to another.
"Yeah, I know," the ninja replied.
"Well, well!" the ninja with the weapons said.
"So you noticed a genjutsu, huh?" the other asked.
"Go ahead. Tell them, Sakura," Sasuke said, turning to his teamate. "I'm sure you saw it before anyone else did."
"Huh?" was all Sakura said.
"You have the sharpest eyes and the best analytical skills on our squad," Sasuke replied. "You must've seen it from a mile away."
"I must have?" Sakure asked. Then her face brightened. "Well, sure. Of course! I saw it right away! This is only the second floor!"
"Right!" Naruto agreed. The 301 sign changed so that now it read 201. Some of the ninja gasped.
"Hmph!" the ninja with the weapons said. "Well, aren't we the smart ones. So you noticed an illusion. Now let's see you deal with THIS!" The ninja threw a kick a Sasuke, who threw one of his own. Right before they made contact, the boy with the bowl-cut hair got in between them, catching both kicks.
'How'd he DO that? !' Sakura wondered. 'I thought he was just some weakling getting pushed around, but he's as fast as Sasuke!'
"He's almost as fast as Saber-Tiger and Marumaro," Rin said to Jiro. Jiro didn't reply, but continued to watch the scene. The boy had released both ninja.
'He stopped my kick,' Sasuke thought. 'That's some chakra he's got in his arms.'
"Hey, what happened to the plan?" a boy with brown hair and a white shirt asked as he and the girl walked over to the boy. "I thought YOU were the one who said to keep a low profile and not let anyone see our skill level!"
"I know, but-" the boy said before turning to face Sakura while the girl shook her head.
"Never mind, it's over," she sighed.
'Hey, what happened to the bruises on his face?' Sasuke thought. 'They're gone! Were they fakes?'
The boy with the bowl-cut hair walked over to Sakura.
"I am Rock Lee. You are Sakura, right?" he asked.
"Huh?" Sakura said. Lee did the thumbs up and smiled.
"Please be my girlfriend! I vow to protect you with my life!" Lee beamed. Sakura's face went small.
"Definately. . . NOT. . ." she replied. Lee's expression went gloomy.
"Why?" he asked. Sakura's face went harsh.
"Because you're a weirdo!" she replied. Lee's head dropped. Rin sputtered as she tried holding in her laughter. Jiro was trying his best not to crack up and lose his surly reputation.
"Hey, you!" the brown-haired boy said to Sasuke. "What's your name?"
Naruto glared at them. 'Urgh! Again? ! It's always about Sasuke!' he thought angrily.
"It's common curtosy to give your own name before asking someone else's," Sasuke replied.
"Hey, you're a rookie, aren't you? How old are you, anyway?" the boy asked.
"I'm not obliged to answer," Sasuke said.
"What? !" the boy growled. Sasuke turned and walked past Naruto and Lee, who were both leaning on the wall.
"A weirdo?" Lee mumbled.
"No one ever wants to know MY name," Naruto grumbled.
'Ain't THAT the truth,' Rin thought.
"Hey Naruto, Sasuke! Let's go!" Sakura exclaimed. The three went upstairs. Rin and Jiro went upstairs, followed by the other ninja. They went into room 301. Soon, the room became crowded.
"Could be interesting," Rin said with interest.
"Let's just hope these Shadow-less losers actually give us a good fight," Jiro muttered in response, narrowing his ocean-blue eyes at all the ninja around them.
"Just plese don't get over-confident," Rin sighed. "I'm pretty sure that's the reason you kept losing to Delphinium."
"That was because Minotaur hadn't been revived yet!" Jiro protested.
"Oh I'm sure," Rin replied sarcatically, rolling her violet eyes. Jiro let out a low growl and Rin thumped him. "Growl at me one more time and Worgen will teach you a lesson."
A half hour later, Lee walked into the room. A few minutes later, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura came in as well. Rin and Jiro got up to greet them when a blond-haired girl wearing a purple shirt hopped up on Sasuke's back.
"Sasuke! Where have you been?" she squeeled. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her in annoyance. "Boy you have no idea how much I was hoping you'd show up here! I've missed those good looks of yours!"
Sakura's face went furious. "Hey you porker, back off he's mine!" she shouted. The blond girl got off Sasuke.
"Something about this scene reminds me of how Kluke used to react when Bouquet hopped all over Shu," Jiro muttered.
"Except now she's too woried about Andropov to notice," Rin added. They turned their focus back to the scene.
"Ms. Forehead! They let YOU in? ! Still got those frown marks on that billboard brow I see," the girl said.
"Leave my forehead out of it!" Sakura shouted. The girl stuck out her tongue and pulled down her bottom eyelid.
"Oh, it's you guys," a black haired boy said. A fat boy eating chips was next to him. "I knew this was going to be a drag, but I didn't know it was gonna be this lame."
"So all three stooges are here?" Naruto said sarcasticly.
"Hey, you know what pipsqueak?" the black haired boy said before sighing, "Ah! Forget it! You're a waste of time!"
"Who are those guys?" Rin asked. Naruto turned to her, arms crossed, and pointed to the black haired boy.
"That's Shikamaru Nara," Naruto replied. "Always complaining, never does anything about it, believe it! The laziest kid in the acadamy." Shikamaru glared at Naruto but said nothing. The fat boy continued eating chips as if nothing happened.
"That's Choji Akimichi," Naruto continued. "AkiMUNCHY more like it. He'd eat his own head if he could!" Choji didn't seem to notice Naruto's comment, but noticed the next thing Jiro said.
"What a fata-" he broke off when Shikamaru put a hand over Jiro's mouth. Choji's ear twitched.
"Mind finishing that little sentance?" he asked menacingly. Jiro pushed Shikamaru's hand off his mouth.
"I said you're a fatass!" Jiro shouted. Shikamaru tackled Choji in an instant and turned to Jiro.
"You idiot! Choji'll kill you for saying that!" Shikamaru shouted before turning to Choji. "Calm down! You can kill him later, okay? !" Choji stopped struggling and glared at Jiro.
"I'll let you off the hook for now, but I'm so going to kill you when the fighting starts!" he snarled. The blond haired girl continued to taunt Sakura.
"Sorry, but Sasuke's all mine!" she said, pulling down her bottom eyelid and sticking her tongue out again.
"That's Ino Yamanaka," Naruto said. "Now SHE'S annoying! And not just because she has that same stupid thing for Sakuke that Sakura's got." Naruto had whispered that last sentance so Sakura couldn't hear.
"Hell yeah she's annoying!" Sakura growled. Ino glared at her. Three more people came over.
"Well, well!" The boy with a dog on his head said. "What do ya know? The whole gang's back together again!"
"Oh, hi Naruto," the girl with the almost white eyes said nervously.
"That girl is Hinata Hyuga," Naruto said. "She's okay, but I don't know why she gets all shy and embarrassed whenever I, like, LOOK at her! It's kanda weird!" Hinata blushed and looked away. Naruto looked over to the boy with the dog.
"That's Kiba Inuzuka and his dog, Akamaru," Naruto continued. "Forget what I said about Ino! This guy's that most annoying of all! He thinks he's SO cool!"
The last boy, one with brown hair and black glasses glanced over at Rin and Jiro.
"And that's Shino Aburame," Naruto finished. "Well, he's just weird! Kand of a mystery, but that doesn't mean HE isn't annoying too!"
"You seem to think everyone's annoying, but you really haven't checked yourself yet," RIn mumbled.
"You guys too, huh?" Shikamaru asked. "Man everyone's here for this STUPID thing."
"Yep!" Kiba replied. "Here we all are! The nine rookies! This is gonna be fun! At least for those of us good enough to make the cut," he added, looking at Sasuke. "Right, Sasuke?"
"Kiba careful you don't get overcomfident," Sasuke said.
"Just wait!" Kiba replied. "We're gonna blow you guys away! We've been training like crazy!"
'Please! Everyone SHUT UP!' Rin thought. Jiro was clearly annoyed as well.
"Just what do you think WE'VE been doing? ! Sitting around, picking daisies? !" Naruto said. "You don't know what training means!"
Hinata was twidling her fingers. "Don't mind Kiba," she said. "I'm sure he didn't really mean anything by it." Kiba and Akamaru looked over at Hinata.
'Mmm, Akamaru's looking plumper and jucier!' Choji though, taking a step toward the dog. Akamaru saw him and growled.
"WOULD ALL OF YOU SHUT UP ALREADY? ! ? !" Rin and Jiro shouted at the top of their lungs. Silence slammed down immediately and the nine turned to them.
"Hey you guys," a silver haired boy said as he walked over. "Yo ushould really listen to those two. You shouldn't go making a specticle of yourselves. Just cool it!"
"Well who asked you? !" Ino yelled. "Who are you? !"
"I'm Kabuto Yakushi," Kabuto replied. "But really, look around you. You've made QUITE an impression!" All of the other ninja in the room, including Rin and Jiro, who went to sit down with the other ninja, were glaring at them. "See those guys?" Kabuto continued, glancing over at a group of ninja. "They're from the Rain Village. Very touchy. They all are. This exam makes everyone tense. And you don't wanna rub them the wrong way right now."
"Oh," Sakura said. Rin and Jiro saw Kabuto take out a deck of cards and set it on the ground.
". . . I've got more than 200 of these," Kabuto was saying. "So you see, I haven't been completely wasting my time. They may not appear much to the naked eye. In fact," Kabuto said, taking a card and setting it down face-up, "they appear blank. I don't want just anyone seeing this stuff." He started spinning the card and a moment later a map appeared on it.
"Oh cool, a map! But of what?" Sakura asked.
"It shows how many candidates came for the exam and what village they came from," Kabuto replied. The card went blank again.
"Do you have any information on the candidates?" Sasuke asked.
"They might," Kabuto replied. "Why? Do you have someone special in mind?"
"I might," Sasuke replied.
"Well," Kabuto said, putting the card back in the deck, "I can't promise my information is complete or perfect, but I've got something on just about everyone. Including you guys of course. So which one is is? Tell me what you know about them; a description, where they're from, whatever. Anything at all."
"Gaara of the Desert, Rock Lee from the Leaf Village, and Rin and Jiro, both also from the Leaf Village," Sasuke replied.
"Nosy, ain't he?" Rin muttered. Jiro nodded.
"Man, that's no fun! You even know their names! That makes it easy!" Kabuto said. He pulled out four cards. "Here they are."
"Show them to me," Sasuke said.
"Okay," Kabuto replied. "First up is Rock Lee." He made an image appear on the card.
'I wonder how much information he's got on us. Hopefully not much.' Rin thought. She noticed Jiro beginning to get tense. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down Jiro. Just imagining beating the hell out of Shu," she told him. Jiro gave a small smile at the thought of pounding his former rival. They turned their attention back to Kabuto.
"Looks like he's about a year older than you guys," Kabuto said. "Mission experience: 11 C-ranks and 20 B-ranks. His squad leader is Gai. In the last twelve months, his taijutsu has radically improved, but his other skills are pretty shaky. Last year, he got a lot of attention as a Genin but for some reason he chose not to participate in the Chunin Exam. This'll be his forst time as a candidate; same as you guys. His teamates are Tenten and Neji Hyuga."
"Sounds like Hinata and this Neji person are related," Rin said. Jiro didn't respond. Kabuto made Gaara's card appear.
"Mission experience: 8 C-ranks and get this," Kabuto said with a hint of surprise, "one B-rank as a Genin! There's not a lot more information on this guy. He was a rookie from another land, originally. But there is this: he survived every mission without getting a scratch on him."
"The dud's got a B-rank as a Genin and has never even been injured? !" Shikamaru exclaimed.
"What's the deal with this guy? !" Naruto exclaimed.
"Now for Rin and Jiro," Kabuto said. "Rin's up first." he made her card appear. "No mission experiece at all! Her teamate is Jiro. They have no squad leader either! She's from the ancient Drake Clan and is and excellent swordsman. She's not even a proper Genin or even from this village, either! She's also known as a Shadow Wielder, but I have no idea what that even is. Other 'Shadow Wielders' are Jiro and some others named Shu, Kluke, Bouquet, Marumaro, Andropov, Logi, Matilda, Delphinium, and Deathroy. Her family was killed when an orginization called Grankingdom bombed her village. She was the only survivor."
"How'd he know all that? !" Rin exclaimed.
"I suspect he knows more than he's giving out," Jiro replied. "We should be careful around him."
"How'd they get in if they aren't even real Genin? !" Shikamaru asked.
"The Shadow Wielder part let them in apparently," Kabuto replied. "Now for Jiro." He made Jiro's card appear. "Also no mission experience. He's also a Shadow Wielder and his family was killed when Grankingdom attacked his village. Like Rin, he was the only survior of the attack." The card went back to normal and Kabuto pulled out another, making another image of a map appear. "Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, Sound. From the looks of it, all sent exceptionally skilled candidates to the exam this time around. Of course, the Hidden Sound Village is small; it sprang up recently. No one knows anything about it; those guys are a mystery." Kabuto put all the cards away. "Well, you get the point. The competition's gonna be intense this year."
"So it would seem it would be enough to make you lose your confidence," Hinata said.
"Fine time to start talking like that!" Ino yelled at her.
"Do. . . you really think it's going to be tougher this year?" Sakura asked.
"Oh yeah!" Kabuto replied. "In the four years I've been coming here, I've never seen a crop of candidates with as much potential as this bunch! Yup, we've got our work cut out for us!" Rin noticed Naruto shivering.
"Is he having some sort of fit?" Rin asked. Naruto suddenly spun around to face all the ninja.
"My name is Naruto Uzimaki! And I'm gonna beat every one of you! Believe it!" He shouted.
"What an idiot!" Rin muttered. "This is SO embarrassing! I want to kill him so badly right now!" Rin noticed a blue aura coming off of Jiro and his shadow begining to stretch, taking the form of Minotaur. It was heading toward Naruto. Rin beat Jiro on the head and his shadow went back to normal. "Idiot! Do you really wanna give away our power?!"
"I was only gonna use Conquer on him!" Jiro protested. "A good electric shock would've set him straight!"
"Now's not the time to use our Shadows! Only Shu and Blue Dragon would do something THAT idiotic!" Rin yelled. She noticed three people dashing toward the group. A black haired Sound ninja leaped into the air, throwing kunai at Kabuto, who dodged. Then the one with the bandages on his head swung a fist at Kabuto, missing barely. However, Kabuto's glasses shattered and he vomited. Rin and Jiro's eyes widened.
"What the hell happened? !" Jiro exclaimed.
"He totally dodged that!" Rin agreed. A giant puff of smoke appeared on the other side of the room.
"Alright, you baby-faced degenerates! Pipe down and listen up!" a voice shouted. When the smoke cleared, several ninja were standing there. The one in front was wearing a black jacket and had two scars on his face.
"It's time to begin," he said. "I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor. And from this moment, your worst enemy."