Four days later saw the team of Konohagakure ninja arriving at the entrance of Kumogakure. They didn't encounter any trouble, and it was good to spar with Iruka almost every night. Izumo would say that their trip was almost too easy, but he wasn't going to complain now that they were at their destination safe and sound.

Kakashi took the responsibility of signing them in as proctors, and the jonin sensei signed in the three teams. Once they had their papers and passes all in order, they were allowed within the gates of the Hidden Cloud Village.

Signs were put up all around the village directing which areas visitors were allowed to be in and which areas they weren't. Izumo made sure to take note so he wouldn't accidentally wander into a restricted area and get into trouble for being in the wrong place. Kakashi and the jonin sensei made sure the genin all knew the restricted places as well. It wouldn't do any good to have any disputes between villages just because someone got lost in the wrong place.

The group checked into the rooms that had been reserved at an inn close to where most of the exams were going to be taking place. Once they were all settled, Kakashi rounded up Izumo and Kotetsu and the three of them ventured toward the administrative buildings of the Hidden Cloud to find out how proctoring the chunin exams was going to work here.

Kakashi had donned regular issued clothing before they had arrived in Kumogakure, and Izumo suspected that no one was supposed to know he was ANBU status. All the better. If someone underestimated them, they would have the advantage of surprise.

The three of them kept close together, and Izumo found it oddly comforting that Kakashi had spoken with him that night he'd been plagued with nightmares. He didn't feel as uneasy as he used to around Kakashi, and he figured that was better if they were to be together a lot for the next few weeks.

Kotetsu had noticed Izumo's ease around Kakashi a couple days ago, and, surprisingly, he had asked Izumo about it. Izumo simply replied that Kakashi had helped him out one night. Kotetsu must have understood that Izumo was having nightmares, and Kakashi must have talked with him about it. Since then, Kotetsu seemed more relaxed around Kakashi but not any less wary.

This newfound ease didn't mean that they were going to let Iruka get distracted by Kakashi though. Even if Kakashi hadn't taken notice of Iruka at all, they weren't going to let their friend become distracted and lose his chance at becoming a chunin this time around.

It was about damn time that Iruka caught up to them already.

Upon arriving at the administrative buildings of Kumo, they were directed to a building a few blocks away. There, they had a Cloud ninja lead them to a designated meeting room. The three leaf ninja stepped into a fairly big room with theater style seating and desks in front of each seat. Kakashi wandered over to the far right in the back, and Kotetsu and Izumo followed suit. They looked to be early, as there were only a few other shinobi in this room at all.

The three sat in relative silence, observing the other occupants of the room. Over the next hour, more shinobi trickled in, and soon the room was half full. At the front of the room, a rather large man with off-white, almost yellow tinged, hair walked through a door and up to a podium placed in the center of the front of the room.

He cleared his throat for silence before beginning to speak.

"Welcome, shinobi. The Hidden Cloud Village thanks you for volunteering your time to help proctor the chunin exams. This year for the chunin exams, we are going to do things a little differently than the last few exams. As you all well know, this is the first time the Hidden Cloud has held an important political event such as these exams since the Third Great Ninja War ended not quite a decade ago.

"To reassure your trust in our village and its leadership, the exams this year won't have the brutality that they held before the Third Shinobi War. This year, we are going to test these specific skills in our exams: infiltration, group combat, espionage, survival, and one on one combat.

"The layout of the exams looks like this." A screen descended from the ceiling behind the large man, and Izumo's eyes skimmed over the information. Round one: espionage and infiltration. Round two: group combat. Round three: teamwork and survival. Round four: one on one combat. "The overseers of the chunin exams have figured that these four rounds should take place over a series of seven to eight weeks. Our longest round will be round three. Our longest rest period will be between rounds three and four. Any questions?"

A Kumo ninja raised her hand. The man nodded to her, and she cleared her throat. "Lord Fourth, why do we need so many proctors? And proctors from other nations nonetheless."

The man at the front of the room smiled. "Ah, yes. Where do you guys come in? Allow me introduce our head proctors for each exam." Four people filed in from the same door the Fourth Raikage had come in through. "Everyone, meet Darui, B, C, and Yugito."

In his peripheral, Izumo saw Kakashi tense slightly, but for the life of him, Izumo had no idea what for.

"Each one of these individuals has my extreme confidence in their capabilities. Each of you will be split up for different rounds, where you will work exclusively under one of these individuals until it is time for your round to play out. After hearing how each of them will conduct their own round, you will figure out why we need so many proctors." Here, the man turned to look at the only female in the group. "Yugito, take it over from here."

Yugito bowed, "Of course, Lord Raikage." When she straightened, she stepped up to the podium and glanced across the room. "I will be the proctor for the first round. When I call your name, you will come forward and follow me. I will not discuss any more about my round in front of everybody, because I do not trust you to not tell your subordinates or colleagues about how my round will work. I will say that my round is meant to eliminate most of the weaklings. Now, come forward…Iwashi…Kohaku…"

Izumo half listened to her listing off names. He wasn't called, and he was glad. She seemed a little scary…or maybe intense was the right word. Anyway, he turned to Kotetsu and Kakashi. "Does this mean we are to be separated?"

Kakashi gave a slight nod as Kotetsu said, "It seems so…"

Izumo inhaled a steady breath and released it quietly. Realistically, he knew that he wouldn't be able to stay with both Konoha shinobi when their mission as proctors began, but he had held out for hope that they wouldn't be separated so soon. Ah, well, he'd just have to cope, like he was doing with everything else.

Darui was the next person to step forward. "Alright…when I call your name, come forward. Try to hustle and not be so dull." Izumo had to smile at the bored look on Darui's face. He would certainly be an interesting person to work with, if nothing else.

Surprisingly, Kakashi was called forward for this round. Kakashi turned to them and gave them a curved eye smile. "That'll be me. Good luck you two, and keep on your toes." Izumo watched Kakashi's back as it got further and further away from them and closer to the front of the room.

When Darui was finished, C was the next one to step forward.

Kotetsu grabbed Izumo's attention, "Hey, if we're separated, I want you to have your communicator on at all times. Ibiki would kill me if he knew that I won't be able to be at your side during most of the time we have here."

Izumo nodded slowly. "Ah, yes. I'll be tuned into the usual frequency."

Kotetsu nodded his head firmly. "Good."

"Kamizuki." Izumo turned his head toward the front of the room. Looks like he will be a proctor for the third round. He stood up slowly and gave a nervous wave to Kotetsu before descending the steps toward his group.

Before his group left the room completely, Izumo heard Kotetsu's name being called as a proctor for the fourth round.

~k~*~i~

Kotetsu leaned his head back and basked in the sunlight of midafternoon. Kumogakure was higher up in the mountains than anywhere in Fire Country territory, and Kotetsu loved being able to feel the sun so clearly on his skin.

His round would be the fourth round: one-on-one combat. Killer B, that's how his head proctor introduced himself, said that they pretty much had free time until after round three concluded, considering they didn't know how many genin were going to make it to the final round. Well…he didn't exactly say that…he more rapped it.

"Yo, yo! Listen up! This is how it's going to go! Round four don't start till round three is wrapped up, so get out the door and relax some more! See ya after three, where ya'll will meet up with me to oversee the young genin's fighting in the ring. Yeah!"

That's exactly what Killer B had…rhymed, so Kotetsu figured he didn't have any responsibilities until after round three wrapped up. He had wanted to see what Kakashi and Izumo were currently doing, but neither of their meetings had finished yet, so Kotetsu was content to just wait outside for them to be done.

Sighing, Kotetsu slid down the building's wall until his butt made contact with the ground. He almost envied the other two. At least they had something to concentrate on for a while. Him? Well, he was stuck with thinking and overthinking things because he didn't have anything else to do to distract him.

As he sat there in the midafternoon sun, his thoughts trailed off to think about a certain someone that had been invading his head since their last sparring match: Izumo.

That guy…really got under his skin. Sometimes in a good way, like when he helped convince Iruka to stay away from Kakashi for now, but mostly Izumo got under Kotetsu's skin in a bad way. Kotetsu was still freaking pissed that he had to babysit Izumo, but…he couldn't find it in himself to hate his mission anymore.

Sure, he still greatly loathed Izumo, but what Kotetsu realized this past week was that Izumo was seriously damaged. Not just physically and mentally, but emotionally as well.

That last sparring match had ended quite abruptly after Izumo's episode, and the two hadn't talked about it at all. Kotetsu wanted to approach Izumo about the subject and ask what his deal was, but he didn't want to bring other people's attention to any issues Izumo may be having because they were on a mission. If Kakashi saw it fit to pull Izumo out, he would. In fact, Ibiki had specifically mentioned to Kotetsu that Kakashi was directed by the Hokage to pull Izumo from the mission if he became compromised. Which meant that Kotetsu would have to see Izumo home, and both of them would have a blemish on their records because they weren't able to finish their mission.

Kotetsu sighed and dropped his head back against the building's wall behind him. The brick was warm after soaking up the sun's rays, and Kotetsu reveled in its heat while he could feel it.

He would just have to make sure that Izumo was alright. This being separated bullshit was going to make his job harder on him, but he should be able to manage it.

"There you are! Konoha shinobi-san, please hurry!"

Kotetsu glanced up at the Hidden Cloud ninja. He looked like a newly promoted chunin, by how young he was. Probably hadn't been in the service more than a year. "What is it?"

"Your teammate, um...Kamiki-san?"

Kotetsu was on his feet in an instant. "Kamizuki?" At the chunin's nod, Kotetsu nodded. "Take me there."

Kotetsu could feel adrenaline pump through his veins as the youngster led him through the building to where Izumo's meeting was being held.

~i~*~k~

"How do you like that, huh?" A punch connected with Izumo's jaw, making his head fly sideways and connect against the wall behind him with a crack. "Why don't you tell us your rank, hmm?" Pressure, like someone stepping down, was building up on his ankle. "It'll make the pain go away." Izumo felt more pressure being applied to his ankle. If they didn't stop soon, it was going to…

SNAP!

Pain laced up and down Izumo's leg, and his scream drowned out the sickening crunch of his ankle where the bone had just snapped under too much pressure. He could still feel the point of breaking, and it made him nauseated. He emptied what was left in his stomach onto the floor beside him.

"Little effeminate bitch. Do you like pain?" A kick to his leg. "You must, since you're not talking." He was lying on the ground now, being kicked in the stomach. "Tell me, do you beg your boyfriend to take you dry? Surely, you're the uke." A fierce connection between foot and chest, and Izumo felt pain explode everywhere. "Fuckin' pussy."

Izumo tuned out the harsh words the Mist ninja was using to insult him with. He had no idea how the ninja knew that he was gay. It's not like he told them anything. Vaguely, his mind supplied him with the answer that this particular ninja must think he was too feminine to be straight. He was the only Mist ninja to degrade Izumo verbally in such a way, so Izumo's mind deduced that either the Mist ninja was gay, a homophobe, or just deluded by Izumo's appearance.

With an odd amount of displacement, Izumo's mind supplied the thought that while he had feminine features, it did not mean he was the uke. He's never even had a boyfriend, and when he fantasized about having one and having sex, they took turns. Honestly though, why was he thinking about such things when he was being tortured?

"-dammit, Kamizuki! Fuckin' listen to me!"

Izumo froze and became aware of himself when someone started shaking his shoulders violently. Blinking back the dark around his vision, Izumo realized he was on the floor of an unfamiliar room with Kotetsu in front of him, jerking his shoulders violently. "Thank Kami, you're awake."

Taking a deep, calming breath, Izumo removed Kotetsu's hands off of his shoulders and slowly began to sit up. A hand on his chest had him shooting a questioning look at a blond ninja that he hadn't bothered looking at before.

"I wouldn't advise you to do that. I'm a medical ninja for the Hidden Cloud. I want to check you over before you get up. You fell pretty hard when you passed out."

Izumo blinked slowly to comprehend the healer's words. "Ah…of course."

The blond medic ninja's hands glowed green before sweeping over Izumo's head and down his body. After a few minutes, the medic drew his hands back and looked at Izumo. "Everything seems to be okay right now. If you have any headaches, migraines, or blackouts again though, come and talk to me about them. Is this the first time this has happened?"

Izumo went to sit up again after shooting the medic a questioning look. When he nodded, Izumo slowly sat up with Kotetsu's help. "Ah…yes. I've never passed out before like this."

The medic…C, Izumo suddenly realized - startled that he hadn't recognized his head proctor right away - nodded his head. "Can you remember what you were doing before it happened?"

Izumo became aware of Kotetsu's intense gaze on him. It made it harder for him to think. "…Ah…I believe I was feeling dizzy. I'm not used to this altitude…"

C's eyes lighted in acknowledgement. "Of course! Altitude sickness. Everyone reacts differently, although most react with nausea and dizziness. Fainting spells can occur though. I can give you a prescription for the duration of your stay here. Just don't pass out when we're proctoring okay?"

Izumo wasn't sure, but C's last question had a hint of a joke somewhere in its depths. Izumo agreed with a smile and allowed Kotetsu to help him stand.

"Thank goodness your teammate could wake you up. I thought we would have to admit you!" C laughed weakly before lightly grabbing Izumo's shoulder. "Now, under my code of conduct, I would treat you to the best of my abilities, but that doesn't mean every Cloud shinobi holds my code of conduct, so just make sure to take care of yourself and try to avoid going the hospital while you are here. Come to me if any more dizziness occurs, and I will try to help you."

Izumo agreed once more and allowed C to go back to the front of the room to finish briefing on their portion of the exam. They had almost been finished briefing when Izumo had been caught in the memory, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember what had triggered it.

Kotetsu's arm was still supporting him, and Izumo flashed him a questioning look.

Kotetsu looked around the room discreetly before leaning in closer to whisper in Izumo's ear. "That wasn't altitude sickness, was it? It was a hallucination?"

Izumo closed his eyes and slightly lowered his head. Leave it to Kotetsu to know what was up. "Ah…yeah. I don't remember why it happened. I've noticed that usually, there's a trigger. Something I think, see, hear, smell, or feel can set it off. I've been able to suppress them for a little while, getting enough time to excuse myself to the bathroom or something, but this time…I've never had a reaction that bad. It was so real…"

Izumo's lips barely moved as he was recounting all of this to Kotetsu, and he had picked his head up to pretend to be listening to the briefing. It was why his eyes were scanning the crowd around them and not looking at Kotetsu or C. It was also why he saw what had set off his reaction. Well, who.

His body tensed visibly, his breath caught in his throat, and all of his senses screamed at him to either fight or flee.

Standing some ways away from them in the small room was the same Mist ninja that had called him a uke.

~k~*~i~

Kotetsu was still holding onto Izumo to support his frame in the hopes that if Izumo did have another reaction, he wouldn't fall to the floor and draw more attention to himself. His grip on Izumo was probably the only reason that Kotetsu noticed his teammate tensing up like an animal cornered.

Kotetsu glanced around the room to find out where Izumo was looking when he spotted the Mist ninja that Izumo's eyes were glued on. Mentally cursing, Kotetsu adjusted his hold on Izumo and pulled the other chunin closer to him.

That was probably the reason for his episode earlier then. He had seen this guy's headband, and bad memories had sprung up to the forefront of his mind. Kotetsu was quite impressed that Izumo's memories were enough to knock him out, but he was also concerned that this would further complicate their mission.

If Izumo froze up every time he saw a Mist hitai ate, how was he going to proctor these exams? Nearly every nation had sent a group of genin to participate in the chunin exams this year, Mist included. Izumo had better get his shit together; otherwise, Kakashi was going to send them back.

After Kotetsu had drawn Izumo closer to him, Izumo visibly relaxed, but his muscles remained coiled in the fight or flight instinct. Kotetsu was just glad he wasn't going to pass out on him.

Up front, C wrapped up his explanation and told them that they were going to meet up after the first round was complete to talk specifics. When the second round was complete, they would start delegating assignments, and finishing their prep for the third round. With that said, C dismissed the proctors under his command.

Izumo was nearly out the door before Kotetsu even turned to leave, and he had to run to catch up to his teammate. "Kamizuki, where's the fire?"

Izumo shook his head fiercely and kept speed walking until the motel came into sight. He glanced behind Kotetsu, let out a sigh of relief, and finally slowed his gait.

"What the hell was that about?" Kotetsu demanded, placing his hand on Izumo's shoulder and forcing Izumo to stop walking.

Izumo glanced away nervously. "Wh…what are you talking about?"

"Ah, hell no. Tell me what the fuck you were freaking out about in there right now. I saw the guy with the Mist hitai ate. Don't you dare tell me that his headband freaked you out enough that it caused you to pass out in the middle of a freaking debriefing!"

Izumo looked away, frowning deeply. "His name is…Wani Nagisa. He… he was one of my tormentors."

Kotetsu tried to breathe in, but as soon as the words registered in his brain, his breath was cut off. "Did he see you? Did he recognize you?"

Izumo turned to look at him with an irritated glare. "He most definitely saw me because I passed out in the middle of a freaking debriefing."

Kotetsu winced slightly as his words were thrown back at him. He felt like a fool that he had assumed Izumo passed out because of the hitai ate. It just never occurred to him that one of Izumo's capturers would be here of all places.

"I'm an asshole, I get it. But if you're in danger, we need to–"

"No! We don't need to do anything." Izumo stepped away from Kotetsu and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I can handle this. I don't need to go back to Konoha with my tail between my legs. Besides, if he tries to pull anything on Kumo territory, it would start a war between Lightning and Mist. I'll be safe."

"What about your mental health?" Kotetsu felt like it was a low blow, but he couldn't leave a comrade in danger just because of something silly like pride.

It took a long while for Izumo to answer but answer he did. "I'll be fine. I was caught off guard. Now that I know he's here, I can mentally prepare myself for seeing him."

"I don't like this. Not one bit. The least we can do is request for you to switch rounds. You could switch with me or Hatake-san."

"NO!" Izumo turned and grabbed Kotetsu's arm so tightly, Kotetsu had a feeling it would leave a bruise. "We cannot bring attention to this. If Kakashi-san gets word of this, then he will surely send me home. I heard Ibiki warn you that Lord Hokage sent Kakashi-san to make sure I would go home if this mission was too much for me. I'm not a weakling. Ibiki has put his trust in me that I will be able to handle this mission. Please don't send me home before I can prove my worth."

Kotetsu jerked slightly at Izumo's tone. It had a desperate begging quality to it that Kotetsu didn't like hearing, not one bit. "…I'm not saying that I'm agreeing with you about this…but if you have another episode like today, I will tell Hatake-san. And if this Wani guy tries anything, and I mean anything, even if it's just friendly talking, you tell me immediately. I want your receiver set on you at all times. Your microphone is on whenever we are not together, and you damn well better tell me if you have another episode while we are apart."

Izumo's look of relief was something that sent a jolt of emotion through Kotetsu. "One chance. That's all you're getting."

Izumo nodded. "I won't disappoint you. I promise."

Kotetsu nodded sharply and began walking toward their motel again.