"But he hasn't woken up even once the entire time. Maybe something is really wrong with him."

"There's nothing wrong with him, Naruto." An exasperated female voice said, "He's just healing. His wounds have already closed up since he fell asleep."

"But still..." The first voice, that Grimmjow finally recognized as that annoying Fox-brat from before, said.

"Don't talk so loud." A slightly sleepy male voice said, "You'll wake him."

Fox-brat snorted. "As if! When Kakashi-sensei put that seal on you, Grimmjow didn't even move when you screamed like a girl."

Grimmjow opened his eyes slightly but kept his breathing even, and examined himself and his surroundings. The mattress under him had sunk down enough for him to know that he'd been there a very long time even though his spiritual energy was annoyingly low.

Pink-hair sat crouched on the floor, her arms folded over drawn-up knees. Bratty-black sat slumped on the wooden chair while Fox-brat stood by the door.

"And even when we put you next to him, Grimmjow still didn't wake up."

Grimmjow stifled a growl, struggling to maintain his facade of sleep.

But bratty-black didn't bother.

Pink-hair looked at the boy unrepentantly. "You calmed down when we put you there."

Bratty-black didn't look satisfied. "Why are we keeping him with us?"

The other two brats shared a look. "He's eager to go after Orochimaru," Pink-hair said. "So we won't have to deal with either of them after us. Besides, when Hokage-sama checked on Naruto last night..."

Fox-brat rubbed his abdomen absently and continued. "He wasn't bothered with Grimmjow after seeing you sleeping there. Even Kakashi-sensei stopped nagging us about Grimmjow."

Bratty-black stared at them in irritation.

"More importantly, we realized they knew about Orochimaru," Pink-hair said.

Grimmjow perked up and Bratty-black looked more interested.

Pink-hair huffed. "They didn't say anything but it's obvious they knew him when they looked at that mark."

"Yeah." Fox-brat said, "They're hiding things from us."

"It's not fair! After he bit you, he said…well, it's obvious that man isn't going to just leave you. " Pink-hair clenched her arm tightly and said, "How can we be stronger against if we don't know anything?"

The boys looked at her.

"Sakura-chan, don't..." Fox-brat said.

"I promise I'll be stronger next time." She stared at them. "Three is better than two, right?"

Bratty-black frowned. "I don't need you two butting in and..."

"Too bad." Fox-brat interrupted. "Sakura and me decided on a lot of things when you were snoring."

"What..."

This time Pink-hair cut him off. "We were all attacked. So, he isn't just your enemy."

Grimmjow opened his eyes completely and said, "Are you three brats trying to steal my prey?"

All traces of seriousness in the room vanished as the brats turned to the bed with a mix of curiosity, relief and worried anticipation.

"Grimmjow!" Fox-brat opened a box noisily, rushed to the bed and dropped a large something on to the mattress. "Look, I got you a huge fish. Those annoying proctors didn't want to give me..."

Grimmjow tuned out the boy's words, ignored the fish pointedly and stretched on the mattress, glad when the sheet that had been on him fell back easily. His muscles stretched, his bones popped and his tail cut through the air easily.

Grimmjow purred in satisfaction. Even though his spiritual power was useless at the moment, he was physically fit for a fight. He turned to Bratty-black. "So, that man, Orochimaru, is after you. Interesting."

Pink-hair answered him, her voice steady even though she smelt fearful. "He is. That's the perfect reason to stay with us, right?"

Grimmjow chewed thoughtfully and then twitched at the recognizable taste of raw fish in his mouth. "Damn it! When the hell did I start eating this?"

"Don't worry, Grimmjow! I got another fish here," Fox-brat said and held up a larger silver fish.

"Stop fucking distracting me with shitty food that I don't even need to eat."

"But Grimmjow," Fox-brat looked at him seriously. "Everyone feels better after they eat properly."

"I'm a hollow, you stupid shit. I don't need to eat that crap to feel better."

"Hollow?" Fox-brat turned to the other two humans. "Is that another kind of jungle cat?"

"Stupid, I'm not some useless animal. Doesn't the presence of the large hole on my back tell you anything?"

"What hole?" Fox-brat gasped and his eyes widened in horror. "I knew it."

Grimmjow grinned in satisfaction.

"Sakura-chan, Grimmjow isn't healed at all. He's hydrating."

"Hallucinating, you moron," Bratty-black said. "And he's obviously just messing with you."

Grimmjow turned to point at his hollow hole, only to stare in disbelief at his complete armoured back. "That bastard Aizen! Just what the fuck did he do to me?"

A loud series of metal bells made all of them tense up. Grimmjow turned around, still confused about his missing hollow hole, but unwilling to be distracted by it when he was still in unknown territory.

"Finally!" Fox-brat said and moved to the door, "The exam is over. Let's get out of here. Maybe the fresh air will make Grimmjow better."

As soon as Fox-brat opened the door, a puff of smoke cleared away to show an older man.

"You're that annoying examiner guy!" Fox-brat said.

The brats didn't lower their hastily drawn weapons even though Grimmjow couldn't feel anything worth being cautious about around the newcomer.

The 'annoying examiner guy', dressed in a dull grey uniform, just looked at them and smiled. "Looks like you are all awake. Good. Follow the arrows we've put up till you reach the main hall and wait there for further instructions."

He gave them a slight wave, ran in the opposite direction and disappeared down a turn in the long hallway.

Fox-brat huffed but followed the gaudy blue arrows on the walls and the floor. "Stupid examiner. Do this…do that. Just who does he think he is? I hope he..."

Grimmjow stayed well behind the brats, once again cursing his lack of spiritual energy that forced him to stick with the brats yet again even when he really didn't want to.

The air grew static-y, as they climbed down some stairs and finally reached a large spacious hall, seemingly filled with energy that seemed to be common here. Energy that Grimmjow had never felt before in Hueco Mundo.

He mused that he could probably only sense the unknown energy because it contained spiritual energy alongside something else. And now that he consciously paid attention to the energy, Grimmjow realized that every human, who seemed to have entered the hall earlier, had that energy in them.

Fox-brat shuffled, slowed down and walked beside the other two brats. "Weren't there a lot of teams before we entered the forest?"

Pink-hair nodded and stared at the humans who had lined up at the centre of the hall. "There were at least twenty teams, I think."

"More than that," Bratty-black said even as he stared straight ahead, not looking at anyone in the hall.

"And now there's only..." Fox-brat counted carefully as they stopped and lined up a little away from the other humans. When he couldn't find an exit that would lead him out, Grimmjow stood on the brats' left side, which meant that the three brats were the only humans next to him. "Only six teams? Wow."

"We were really lucky," Pink-hair said solemnly, keeping her voice low.

Bratty-black scoffed and rubbed his neck pointedly.

"Well, obviously not lucky the entire time. Just, you know, things could have been a lot worse after all that happened if..."

All three brats turned to Grimmjow, their expressions a mix of things Grimmjow didn't want to decipher. The vibes he got off them at the moment was nauseating enough.

"Why the fuck are you morons reminiscing when you're surrounded by enemies?" All three brats twitched in sync. Grimmjow stared at the large statue at the front, two hands frozen in an odd gesture that probably had some important meaning, even though he felt all sorts of stares from the humans in the hall. "How did you survive this long being so stupid?"

Before any of them could attempt to retort, a door at the front slammed open and a long line of blue-clad men with identical green vests walked out. In the long procession of humans with strong spiritual power levels, Grimmjow immediately recognized the three brats' grey-haired teacher from before.

An old man, at the very end of the line, garbed in a distinctly non-fighter attire- a pristine white robe accented by red- walked sedately till he reached the centre of the stage. The minute the old man started talking, Grimmjow tuned out the man's croaky voice and looked at the other young humans who had lined up beside the brats.

But even with his lack of attention, Grimmjow immediately noticed and paid rapt attention when the old man paused dramatically after mentioning the word 'war'.

"To prevent wasteful fighting, the countries chose the chuunin exams as the substitute stage for battle."

Grimmjow scoffed at the notion of any fighting being wasteful.

The three brats beside him, shot Grimmjow a few looks but stayed silent as the old man continued to speak.

"In these exams, you are risking your lived to protect your country's prestige." The old man paused dramatically and eyed them. "Leaders and influential individuals from many countries, will watch the third exams. These are potential clients who'll only send missions to the country they deem the strongest."

All the teams who had been lined up, shuffled and whispered to one another. Pink-hair looked around and muttered softly. "With only one team from the Sand, doesn't Fire country already have the advantage?"

"The strength of a country is the strength of the village. The strength of the village is the strength of the shinobi." The old man looked at them solemnly. "And a true shinobi's strength is only born through life-risking battle."

Grimmjow snorted. "So the old man does know what he's talking about. At least about the battle bringing out your true strength."

Fox-brat smiled at him and said, "Of course! As our leader, old-man Hokage is the strongest ninja in the village."

"Strongest?" Grimmjow examined the old man. Everything from the long white robe to the awkward hat on the man's head marked him as an easy target. But hidden underneath all that, Grimmjow detected the old man's real spiritual power level and was unpleasantly reminded of the first time he'd ever met Aizen. Power hidden away under a weak looking exterior. Power that he never would have noticed if he hadn't looked properly.

The old man said, "Losing life and establishing balance, that is the shape of friendship in our world."

Grimmjow tilted his head to the side. "And all this time I thought friendship was weak and useless human nature."

Fox-brat turned to him. "He's wrong. Friendship isn't like that."

"Your leader is wrong?" Grimmjow said watched the boy fumble for words as the old man spoke.

Fox-brat huffed. "He may be right about other things, but he's wrong about this."

Pink-hair, who stood at the front of the line, turned and shushed them with narrowed eyes.

A loud cough made them all turn to the front. "Hello everyone, I'm Hayate." Grimmjow stared at the haggard and pale man, absently noting the deep under-eye circles even as he measured the man's spiritual energy.

Fox-brat winced. "He looks..."

"Deceptively weak," Grimmjow said as he got a true feel of the man's power level. "Just like everyone else here."

The man coughed and said, "We'll be having a preliminary test to decide who gets to participate in the third exam. It seems that this year's tests were too easy since so many of you have come this far."

Pink-hair clenched her fists. "Just which part of our time in the forest was easy?"

The two brats behind her flinched.

"Since there will be many distinguished guests attending the third test, there's limited time for the fights, so we must reduce the number of participants."

Everyone stayed silent.

"If any of you aren't feeling well or feel like quitting, come forward now, since we'll be starting the preliminary round immediately."

No one moved.

"No one wants to retire from the exams? Maybe I should explain things properly?" He coughed. "From now on it will be individual battling. You can quit the exam because you aren't responsible for your team-mates' future."

Still, much to Grimmjow's surprise, none of the humans raised their hands.

Fox-brat leaned forward and said, "Sasuke, you can do this, right? Kakashi-sensei said you wouldn't have woken up till way later."

Pink-hair turned back and stared at the boy worriedly.

"I'm fine." Bratty-black snorted. "If anything, you two should worry about yourselves. All the strong fighters are here."

Pink-hair and fox-brat shared a look.

"Stupid! We're Team seven," Fox-brat said smugly.

Pink-hair smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

Bratty-black smirked at them. "Then let's meet at the finals."

Grimmjow stared at the three of them, amused by their confidence when he'd seen their abysmal fighting skills before. "You're all weak and delusional."

The three brats frowned at him.

"We'll conduct one-on-one matches to mimic a real-life confrontation. Since there are eighteen of you here, we'll have nine matches. Only the winners advance to the third test." The man paused and coughed. "The fight ends when one of you dies, gets knocked out or admits defeat. If you don't want to die, forfeit early."

With a grinding sound of metal and wood, a panel on the front wall slid up and revealed a large black screen. "This switchboard controls your destiny now. It will show the match-ups for each battle. Now, for the first fight, we have..."

Everyone looked up at the large screen.

Uchiha Sasuke VS. Akado Yoroi.

"Will these two participants come to the front. Everyone else, please move to the upper levels. Team-leaders, feel free to join your teams."

Six humans, who'd stood quietly at the front of the hall, immediately walked forward and headed in different directions. One of them, the brats' grey-haired teacher, walked towards them looking completely relaxed.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Fox-brat yelled enthusiastically at the grey-haired man.

When the brats' teacher reached them, he ruffled bratty-black's hair and said softly, "Don't worry, Sasuke. The seal I put on you won't fail."

"It better not, Kakashi. If I lose because..."

"Have faith in your own abilities and the seal will be strong." The man patted bratty-black's shoulder. "Anyway, come along you three, let's head up!"

Grimmjow didn't move. Instead he sniffed around, searching for the familiar scent he'd just smelt.

The grey-haired teacher cleared his throat. "Errr, Grimmjow? Are you planning on staying down here?"

Grimmjow ignored him, stared at bratty-black's opponent and sniffed harder.

Fox-brat walked forwards. "What's wrong?"

Grimmjow growled when the elusive scent disappeared. "Nothing! Let's go!"

"But..."

Grimmjow ignored the boy and jumped up the stairs easily. The humans who'd already gone up gave him a wide berth as he walked past them to a large empty spot at the very end of the upper levels.

Fox-brat and Pink-hair stopped by the railings in front of him. When the grey-haired teacher moved to stand close to the wall behind Grimmjow, Grimmjow growled menacingly until the man hesitantly stood beside the brats. Slightly more comfortable that his back was safe, Grimmjow settled down to watch the match below.

"Begin!"

Both fighters pulled out weapons and threw them. The weapons clashed in mid-air and deflected sideways even as they threw more weapons at each other.

Grimmjow opened his mouth to mock Bratty-black, but then the boy moved. He twisted, jumped through the air, locked his legs around the opponent's neck and pulled the taller boy down to the ground in one swoop.

Bratty-black pressed a weapon to the other boy's neck, not flinching when his opponent tried to pry his hands away.

"Is it over?" Fox-brat asked. "What's that..."

Grimmjow raised his head as Bratty-black's distinct spiritual energy pooled around and towards his opponent's hands.

"Sasuke's getting weaker!" Pink-hair said in surprise.

Fox-brat leaned against the railings. "How?"

"His opponent is draining away his chakra." The grey-haired teacher said from the side, "Since chakra is a mix of physical energy and spiritual energy, Sasuke is left with nothing to..."

Grimmjow stared at Bratty-black's opponent, eager to know how the boy had drained away foreign energy. Grimmow knew that he'd done something similar when he'd been unconscious in the forest. If he could drain and collect foreign spiritual energy consciously, then he'd never have to worry about low spiritual energy. He'd be free find and kill that Orochimaru, without depending on the annoying brats.

"Err…Grimmjow, you know you can't eat the people who get defeated here, right?" Pink-hair said hesitantly.

"What?" Grimmjow snorted but decided to play along with the girl's assumption. Deception may not be one of his strong points, but Grimmjow could make use of it if he really needed to get information. "Well, why the fuck not?"

Fox-brat turned to them. "You're hungry? I knew I should have gotten more fish from those annoying exam proctors."

Grimmjow flicked his tail at the boy's face, waiting till it hit skin before he pushed his tail spikes out, allowing them to sink deep into the boy's skin before he pulled them out viciously.

Fox-brat yelped and pressed his orange jacket sleeve against his bleeding cheek. When he pulled his hand away, only a slight smear of blood remained on undamaged skin. "Don't be angry, Grimmjow! How was I supposed to know you'd be so hungry?"

"Shut up brat!"

"If anything you should be angry at Sasuke. He said that you wouldn't need to eat any more and that I'd already gotten you too much food."

Grimmjow concentrated on Pink-hair. "Why can't I eat them?"

"Because..." Pink-hair's eyes glanced around. "You didn't fight or defeat them?"

Grimmjow huffed. "Aren't they supposed to die after losing anyway? I'd just be cleaning up."

"No!" Pink-hair looked horrified.

"So what's the whole point of all this?"

"Weren't you paying any attention at all?" Pink-hair seemed slightly annoyed.

"You're both missing the fight!" Fox-brat said, "Sasuke just used bushy-brow's move from that time."

They looked down just as Bratty-black kicked his opponent high up in to the air.

When both fighters were parallel to the ground, Pink-hair said, "He used that move perfectly after only seeing it once and never even practising it."

Grimmjow twitched in surprise at the information as the grey-haired teacher moved away to talk to one of the other men.

Fox-brat huffed. "His eyes are such a pain. I bet bushy-brows took ages to learn that move. All Sasuke had to do was copy it."

"That why the Sharingan is so famous, Naruto."

"Yeah," Fox-brat said. He moved closer to the girl and lowered his voice dramatically. "Do you think the mark is for that?"

Pink-hair looked away from the fight, seemingly confused before she said equally softly. "His eyes?"

"Maybe that mark destroys Sasuke's sharingan or something."

Bratty-black raised his leg, while still suspended in the air, and unleashed a quick barrage of kicks on the opponent as they both fell to the ground. With a victorious yell, Bratty-black twisted in mid-air and they both crashed in to the ground with a large explosion of dust.

When the dust finally cleared, Fox-brat and Pink-hair cheered loudly. Too loudly.

But Bratty-black looked up at them from his crouch and smirked. He jumped off his opponent's body easily, as the exam proctor said, "Winner, Uchiha Sasuke."

Bratty-black came up the stairs, reached their spot and shot his team-mates a smug look.

Fox-brat huffed. "Just because you managed to defeat that guy, it doesn't mean you strong enough to go after him."

Pink-hair nodded while their teacher looked at them in slight confusion.

Bratty-black narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to retort, but a voice from below said, "Next participants, please make your way down."

The brats looked up at the screen.

"Kiba and Shino?" Fox-brat said, "But they're team-mates! How can they make them fight your team-mates, Kakashi-sensei?"

"The match pairings are completely random..."

"And why is he taking Akamaru with him?" Fox-brat interrupted quickly. "Akamaru is only a puppy, he'll get hurt."

The brat's teacher sighed and said, "He's a ninja tool, so it's perfectly all right to use him in a fight."

"I see. Then..." Fox-brat turned away from the fight and said, "Grimmjow, when it's my turn, let's fight together!"

Grimmjow yawned widely and closed his eyes.

There was a snort, a sigh and a stifled snicker but Fox-brat just said, "Ah! I understand. You believe that I can fight and win on my own without any help, right?"

Grimmjow wanted to tell the brat not to put stupid words in his mouth. But after dealing with Di Roy and all his other Fraccion before, Grimmjow knew it would just be a waste of time so he kept his eyes shut.

"Woah! Are those bugs?"

Grimmjow didn't know what happened, but the next thing he was conscious of was Fox-brat yelling. "All right! Sakura-chan you're awesome."

Grimmjow opened his eyes and looked around in disoriented confusion. He stood up and moved closer to the railings.

Down below, Pink-hair faced off against another girl, who looked tired and moved sluggishly.

"Sakura always did have the best chakra control out of all of you." The brats' teacher leaned heavily against the railing. "It's no wonder that her movements are so quick and precise."

"They're evenly matched in skills," Bratty-black said all of a sudden.

"That they are Sasuke." The teacher agreed. "This match will probably come down to a test of endurance."

And it did.

Grimmjow had never felt so utterly bored watching a fight. Of course, he rarely ever just watched fights when he could participate in them himself.

Though both girls exchanged heavy hits, they always countered each other perfectly.

With the heavy silence in the hall, Grimmjow wondered if everyone else had fallen asleep. As the girls countered and separated yet again to stand opposite one another, Grimmjow groaned loudly.

For a split-second, Pink-hair looked up at the sound that seemed too loud in the silence.

"There's no way that you could be even with me," the blonde opponent said between laboured gasps of breath.

Pink-hair, looking better off than her opponent, narrowed her eyes and looked up once again. She took a deep breath and said, "You're right."

The blonde girl seemed startled by the words and she lost her fighting stance.

Pink-hair released a burst of energy and moved. Nothing as fast as a sonido, for sure, but fast for a weak human. Before the blonde girl could react, Pink-hair stood behind her and said, "Right now, I'm actually stronger than you."

And then she hit the blonde-haired girl.

"Winner. Haruno Sakura."

Grimmjow snorted as Fox-brat cheered loudly and Bratty-black smirked yet again.

The brats seemed predictable. Like Di Roy. Or even Shawlong. Heck, just like all his old fraccion.

To his aggravation, Grimmjow stirred in to consciousness yet again from another unexplainable bout of sleep, when he heard a voice yell his name in disbelief.

"I can't believe he went back to sleep when it's my turn to fight. He watched both of your fights."

"Stop whining Naruto!" A female voice yelled. "And get moving. Kabuto-san is already down there."

Though he knew there was something terribly wrong with him falling asleep randomly, Grimmjow didn't feel like waking or moving from his spot as loud yells, clashing metal and other sounds of battle filled the air for a few minutes.

He took a deep breath.

And opened his eyes wide when he caught a definite flicker of familiar scent. The one that he'd thought he'd only imagined earlier. He stood, pushed past the brats in front of him, eyed the fight below him and snarled when Fox-brat knocked his taller opponent back easily.

The opponent, a white-haired boy with glasses who suddenly lost all traces of any scent, moved too smoothly even though it looked like he was being pushed back.

Grimmjow moved closer to the railings and pushed his head through the bars, watching the new boy's movements.

An overly clumsy dodge there.

A genuine duck there.

And his lack of movement against an incoming kick.

Grimmjow tensed as the scent appeared yet again and then disappeared equally fast as the white-haired boy fell back with a yelp and a group of fox-brats ganged up on him.

"I forfeit," A muffled voice said.

Fox-brat dismissed his extras with a smile.

"Winner of the seventh match, Uzumaki Naruto."

The white-haired boy stood and walked forward with an outstretched hand. But Grimmjow jumped and with a flash of speed, a very weak Sonido, landed in front of Fox-brat.

"Wha… Grimmjow?" Fox-brat said.

Two soft thumps landed behind him close to the fox-brat.

"Sakura-chan, Sasuke, what's wrong with Grimmjow?"

"Does it look like we know?" Bratty-black sounded annoyed.

"Where is he, boy?" Grimmjow growled. "Where is that man?"

Behind him, all three brats' breathing hitched, seemingly understanding who Grimmjow was referring to.

The white-haired boy's eyes widened, his spiritual energy spiked slightly and the scent appeared all in a split-second. That was more than enough confirmation for Grimmjow.

He lunged forward.

Only to be stopped by three bodies jumping on him simultaneously.

"You can't eat Kabuto-san, silly Grimmjow," Fox-brat said in an obnoxiously loud voice.

At the same time, Bratty-black whispered very softly. "Not here."

The exam proctor stopped in front of them and coughed loudly. "Is there a problem?"

Fox-brat laughed. "Grimmjow is just really hungry as usual."

Grimmjow growled loudly and eyed the white-haired boy as he attempted to free himself from the three brats.

"That's no reason to interrupt the exam. You're delaying the next match."

Pink-hair sighed. "We apologize. It won't happen again. Kabuto-san, I'm also sorry about this."

"It's not a problem at all. After all, I was hurting Naruto-kun." The boy winced, too dramatically and so obviously fake in Grimmjow's opinion, and said, "I think I better go with those medics now."

The three brats only let go of Grimmjow when the white-haired boy left the hall.

"You annoying brats!" He growled, annoyed that he felt slightly relieved at being stopped. With his current lack of spiritual energy, fighting would have been useless. Even so, he snarled. "God damn Aizen!"

"Let's go back up, okay?"

"No!" Grimmjow growled at fox-brat. "I'm going for a fucking walk."

"But..." Fox-brat looked at the other two with a pleading expression.

"Fine," Bratty-black said. "Go. Quickly!"

"Sasuke!"

"You idiot!"

Grimmjow snorted and ran towards the door the white-haired boy go through. Grimmjow cursed himself for not getting a proper read on the boy's spiritual energy and hoped that the boy hadn't hidden all trace of his scent again.