Posted: 21 April 2014
Last Updated: 22 April 2014
Chapter WC
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Story WC: 61,721


Worth Dying For

Chapter 6
Exam


-1:30 PM, March 31st, 312 TE-
-Training Ground 16-

"Do you know what tomorrow is?"

Naruto grunted noncommittally as he performed the same strike again and again against a post. There was gauze wrapped around his hands to prevent too many splinters from getting caught in his busted up knuckles; they were a pain to have to dig out later once his skin healed over them. Hatake continued hum an upbeat tune, so at last Naruto rolled his eyes and looked over at the man.

"What's tomorrow, Hatake-sensei?" he asked dutifully.

"Graduation!"

"Come again?"

"Your Academy class will graduate and be assigned teams tomorrow," Hatake said. He was still smiling, but Naruto noticed it looked more forced than it usually was when he was intent on making Naruto's life hell.

Frowning, Naruto rocked back on his heels. "And this concerns me how, exactly?"

"You knew it had to come eventually Naruto. You'll be placed on an official genin team."

Something in Naruto's chest tightened for reasons he couldn't begin to fathom, and nor did he want to. "With rookies? Sounds fantastic," he muttered. "Well at least I might finally get a sensei who will teach me jutsu. Maybe even that mysterious and possibly nonexistent 'Asuma' you mentioned before."

"No can do, Naruto-chan," Hatake said with a chuckle. "You'll still be on my team. But there are other students I have to teach as well."

Have to teach? That sounded a bit odd. Hatake was strong, sure, but he wasn't exactly "kid friendly". Or people friendly, for that matter. Then in a flash Naruto's mind connected the dots—Uchiha Sasuke had been in his Academy class. And other than him, Hatake was the only person alive with the Sharingan. Naturally, he had to teach Sasuke how to use his bloodline.

Naruto snorted aloud. "Oh, this is going to be bundles of fun, isn't it?" he muttered. "I'll at least be trained separately, right?"

"We'll see." And the obnoxious grin was back. "Maybe you can be my teacher aide!"

"Like hell I will!"

The rest of the day was pure torture. Hatake ran Naruto through what felt like every kata and training exercise Naruto knew, as though he wanted to cram the rest of their training into that single day. It was worth it that evening though, when Hatake suddenly stopped the training and held out a new set of chakra suppressors.

"Awesome!" Naruto exclaimed while grinning widely. "I told you I was ready for another one—I mastered water walking ages ago!"

"And yet you still waste half the needed chakra when performing even a simple bunshin," Hatake said.

"That's still significantly better than what I used to do."

Hatake made a shooing motion with his hand. "Just go home and put them on. I'll meet you tomorrow morning at the Academy."

o-O-o

-7:10 AM, April 1st, 312 TE-
-Shinobi Academy-

At 7:10 in the morning on the day after Academy graduation, Uchiha Sasuke sat in his seat with his elbows on the desk and his hands folded over each other. He blocked out the noise of the children around him by counting the scratches in the wood of the desk. There was pencil grime in a number of them, and soon he had to switch to counting the ceiling tiles to avoid fixating on wanting to clean the desk.

Just after the clock had hit 7:26 the door to the classroom slid open. It admitted one Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke immediately raised his head and narrowed his gaze on the boy, mind working furiously as he tried to figure out what he was doing there.

There was a forehead protector on Naruto's forehead. There were four visible scratches in the metal and the sheen indicating a new forehead protector was missing. He was wearing dull orange pants with three weapon pouches. The weapon pouch on his upper right leg had one button missing—it looked like it had been torn away. The bottom of his pants had traces of mud stains. His black shirt showed no visible stains, but there was a small, almost invisible tear along the neckline.

Naruto had been an active shinobi for at least a few months.

Sasuke cast his mind back, trying to remember the day Naruto left. There was no particular event that sprung to mind. One day Naruto had merely stopped attending and his name had been removed from the class roster with no explanation. Sasuke had not thought to ask questions out at the time. He merely assumed that the blond had dropped out.

Sasuke grimaced, his father's dull voice ringing in his head. Never make assumptions. Assumptions kill shinobi. Itachi's treachery, Naruto's shinobi status—wrong, and wrong again.

The Uzumaki boy sat down in the seat closest to the door. He leaned back against the desk behind him and folded his arms over his chest. He didn't look at anyone. Conversations that fell away at his entrance slowly started up again.

Almost immediately Kiba jumped onto the desk behind Naruto. Crouching on all fours, he peered down at the blond. His filthy dog sat on his head like a stuffed animal.

"Oi, what are you doing here?" Kiba jeered loudly. "This room is for graduates only."

While watching the proceedings from the corner of his eye, Sasuke wondered how someone who was supposed to be a shinobi could be so unobservant as to miss Naruto's forehead protector.

"The hell are you on about?" Naruto retorted. He tapped his forehead. "I'm a shinobi, moron."

"Then where have you been? You're Naruto, right? You left ages ago!" Kiba said with a laugh. His dog barked in agreement.

Naruto rolled his eyes and muttered something inaudible under his breath. From the look on Kiba's face, it couldn't have been anything complimentary.

A row behind them, Shikamaru spoke up. "You graduated early, didn't you?" he said. Sasuke nodded along absently, glad that at least someone in the class had a brain to go with their eyes.

Naruto twisted around in his seat to look back at Shikamaru. "Exactly," he said, flashing a grin. Sasuke noticed a piece of food stuck in his tooth and twitched visibly. "I could have just walked in here and sat down for fun of it, but willingly doing something like that ranks only just above being eaten alive by a squirrel on my Naruto Pain Scale."

Under his breath Shikamaru muttered, "Troublesome." Then he nodded and said, "Nara Shikamaru, if you've forgotten."

Shrugging, Naruto replied, "Yeah, pretty much."

In the meantime, Kiba's face had quickly grown red. It made his grimy hair stand out all the more, and Sasuke instantly had to avert his gaze from the sight. Inuzuka bared his teeth in a wide grin and said, "Well if you're a genin, what got you sent back here? Failed in the real world and got sent back to school?"

"You can't really be that stupid," Naruto said with a flat stare. Inuzuka spluttered indignantly and his dog began barking loudly. The blond continued, "Because I graduated early I've been doing rotational shifts for missions, filling in holes on different genin teams. But now that you guys are—finally—graduating, I have the immense joy of being assigned to a permanent team." He snorted and looked away. "Lucky me."

Before Kiba could reply, the door slid open again. It was not Iruka-sensei like Sasuke was expecting—it was 7:31 which meant he was late—but rather a boy and girl. Sasuke had never seen either of them before, but they were obviously both shinobi. The girl had her hair done up in tight buns on their side of her head and the boy's hair was cut in a round shape, perfectly smooth with not a single hair out of place. Sasuke briefly wished he had such hair; his seemed to be doomed to be out of place, regardless of how much hair product he used. A few years ago Sasuke sold his bathroom mirror, to avoid having to see such a travesty.

Immediately upon their entry Naruto stood and rushed to them. He moved much faster than Sasuke was expecting. The boy with the good hair lowered his head, staring at the floor. The girl's eyes were rimmed with red, as though she had been crying recently. Sasuke looked away.

"What happened?" Naruto demanded. "Where's Hyūga? Lee, what happened?"

The boy shook his head. His face looked rather blank, neither smiling nor frowning. As Naruto's gaze switched to the girl, she said, "Two weeks ago...we had a mission that went from C-rank to A-rank. We were told to come here to…"

Sasuke did not know which Hyūga they were referring to—Hyūga Hinata was in her seat, slumped down and not looking at anyone. It was, however, pretty apparent to Sasuke that the two standing in the doorway had recently lost a teammate and were being added to their class for team assignment. According to theory, missions only increased in rank if they became more difficult, specifically if a powerful opponent appeared.

Several jōnin walked into the room just as the two new shinobi sat down with Naruto. Sasuke put his hands down at sat up straighter. His eyes quickly flashed over them, wondering which would be the one to help him achieve his goals.

A tall jōnin with broad shoulders and dark hair stepped forward. "Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Heisei Mamoru, and Haruno Sakura, I am your jōnin sensei, Sarutobi Asuma. Come with me," he said as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a snap of his finger.

From the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Naruto sit up, staring intently at the jōnin. No one else seemed to notice this odd reaction. Sarutobi walked from the room and didn't even look back as his genin filed out behind him. A woman stepped forward next, quickly listed off a few names, and smiled benignly as the children walked up to her. More jōnin followed, one of them a pale haired man with a scar on his chin and the other a shinobi whose face was so rigid it looked like he could break a shuriken in half with his jaw alone.

The fourth jōnin was a man who looked like an older version of the boy sitting next to Naruto. Quickly looking back and forth between them, Sasuke was able to confirm that despite their identical outfits and hair, they were not related. Their facial structured differed too much. The set of the jōnin's nose was completely different. The jōnin was built for raw strength, while the boy was built for speed.

"Rock Lee, Utatane Tenten, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji, follow me. I am Maito Gai," this man said.

One by one the number of genin began to shrink as jōnin left with their students. At last Sasuke was left alone with Naruto, the Aburame boy, and one of his dreadful fangirls. Sasuke clenched his fists. The girl alone ruined this team, regardless of the capabilities of the other two. Sasuke was not interested in dragging along a dead-weight. He knew how powerful Itachi was, and how big a gap there was between them. If he was weighed down by some silly little girl who thought being a kunoichi meant memorizing a list of past events and looking pretty then there was a chance he would never catch up to Itachi.

Their jōnin sensei was not there. That irked Sasuke almost more than the Fangirl. He would not be pawned off onto a sensei who had no real desire to teach them. It looked like Sasuke would be spending the next few days training at night in order to catch up on wasted time.

A loud yelp sounded from the front of the room. Sasuke's head snapped over to see Naruto glaring at a silver haired man who was standing behind him, leaning over his shoulder.

"You need to pay more attention!" the man said cheerfully and then flicked Naruto on the forehead. The boy grumbled under his breath. "What was that?"

"Nothing, sensei," Naruto said in an overly innocent tone. "I was just wondering: is that a black hair I see?"

The man's hand automatically rose to his head, then he flicked Naruto again, who scowled. It was obvious to Sasuke that they were very familiar with each other. Was this who had been teaching Naruto since he'd left?

"Right then, on to business," the man said as he sauntered into the middle of the room. "Since you're all here and they're all gone, we'll do our introductions here. I'm Hatake Kakashi, your new jōnin sensei. Aren't you lucky!" He stared at Naruto, who gave an innocent smile in reply, obviously swallowing whatever he wanted to say. "I want you all to tell everyone six things about yourself: Your full name, age, rank—"

"But that's obvious, sensei," the Fangirl said. Kakashi stopped and stared blankly at her until she started shifting uncomfortably and looked down. Her cheeks flushed as she mumbled something unintelligible under her breath.

Sasuke glowered. This whole thing was proving to be a waste of time. He had package of fresh fish at home that he wanted to eat for lunch. It would take 14 minutes to cook, 3 minutes to clean up, and then he could head out and spend the rest of the day training.

Kakashi beamed at the Fangirl and then continued as though she hadn't spoken, saying, "You will tell everyone your full name, age, rank, blood type, next of kin, and registration number. Listen closely, because you need to memorize what your teammates' answers are. And yes, you will be tested. If you fail, I'll stab you with a kunai."

Sasuke stared at the man and could safely say he was not the only one. However, he probably was the only deciding that he might like Kakashi as a sensei. The man was clearly not afraid to be rough with them. That he only had one eye made Sasuke concerned that his depth perception could be too off though, and that could affect his fighting capabilities.

"Yeah, this will be fun," Naruto muttered.

Kakashi then stabbed Naruto in the shoulder.

"The fuck—?" Naruto snarled as he yanked the kunai out and tossed it at Kakashi. The jōnin laughed aloud as he dodged and the blade slammed into the blackboard behind him, cracking it down the middle. "What the hell was that for?"

Sasuke's hand was frozen over his weapon pouch as this proceeded. He jolted in his seat as the blackboard crashed to the floor in the background. This was…not what he was expecting when he'd praised Kakashi for being 'rough'.

"No disrespecting your sensei," Kakashi said gleefully. "And since you decided to make yourself stand out—"

"I'm not the one getting happy with the pointed weapons! You're scarring my teammates' delicate minds!"

"—You can go first, Naruto-chan," Kakashi finished.

The Fangirl was gaping at both of them, looking more than just a little horrified. It was impossible to tell what the Mute was thinking behind his high-collared jacket. For his part, Sasuke's arm was beginning to itch at just the thought of the blood drying and staining Naruto's shirt. Bloodstains were always difficult to remove, so it was best to soak them in water straight away. Naruto seemed entirely unconcerned with this, which boggled Sasuke's mind.

"Yeah, whatever," Naruto grumbled. He paused for a second and his face scrunched up in thought. "Uzumaki Naruto, twelve, genin, B, no one, 012592."

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Naruto glared at him, but kept his mouth shut. "Next?" Kakashi prompted.

The Mute leaned forward. "I am Aburame Shino, twelve years old, a genin, my blood type is AB, Aburame Shibi, and my registration is 012618," he said. His voice was monotone, but not quite flat. He glanced toward Sasuke, whose perpetual frown deepened. He was not comfortable with handing out information about himself, especially not while the Fangirl was eying him like a piece of meat she wanted to carve up.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Twelve. Genin. AB…" Sasuke's voice constricted in his throat. For a moment all he could see was blood, the bodies of his parents, and Itachi's spinning red eyes as he sneered down at him. "No one," he managed to continue, only marginally sounding like was chocking. He would not break down, he would not show weakness to these people. "012606."

The Fangirl looked anxiously at Sasuke. That sort of pity was exactly what he didn't want. He preferred the hidden sneers to the pity. She reached out to touch his shoulder, but a short glare from him made her stop short and quickly withdraw the appendage. If he didn't let that therapist they threw at him touch him, why would she think she could?

"Umm... I'm Yamanaka Ino, twelve, genin, B blood, Yamanaka Inoichi, 012604," she said. She stared at Sasuke the entire time she spoke. He tried to pretend she wasn't. With luck she would be like that weird stain on the outside of his apartment building that had been just out of reach, and would disappear if he waited long enough.

Kakashi clapped his hands. "Now that that's done, we can move on to the real point of this meeting: you're not genin yet. Except for Naruto-kun," he said as an afterthought, "but that's still debatable.

Sasuke felt like an icy cold hand had gripped his heart and was threatening to rip it from his chest. "What do you mean?" he demanded. He'd gone through too much, fought too hard, to be stopped now.

"No need to be so angry, Sasuke-chan!" Kakashi said.

A growl rose in the back of Sasuke's throat and he glared fiercely at the jōnin. He was not about to be insulted by a man with a tilted forehead protector that he desperately wanted to reach out and straighten.

Ignoring Sasuke's reaction completely, Kakashi continued his dramatic explanation. "You still have one more exam to pass before you are officially instated as shinobi. That exam will take place…tomorrow! Your orders are thus: show up by the South Gate at 0600 tomorrow, equipped for a long term mission. If you are late, you fail. If you want to withdraw, say so now."

To Sasuke's surprise, the Fangirl tore her gaze away from him long enough to evenly meet Kakashi's gaze. With determination in her voice she said, "We wouldn't be here if we weren't already sure that we wanted to be shinobi, sensei. What type of mission should we pack for?"

Kakashi smiled. "Good question. But I won't give you an answer."

The girl immediately protested, "But that's not—"

"Not fair? And I thought you said you wanted to be a kunoichi. Sometimes you have to pack without knowing exactly what you'll need, and this is one such occasion," Kakashi said.

Naruto shifted in his seat while frowning. He was eying Kakashi suspiciously—and still ignoring the blood that had dried on his arm from his shoulder wound. How in the world could he not want to clean it off? He was even more of an unknown wildcard that Sasuke had thought he was.

"Can we go then?" Sasuke asked, looking anywhere other than at Naruto's arm.

Kakashi's smile widened. "Nope! Not until all of you can recite the six pieces of information each of your teammates gave. Naruto-kun, we'll start with you. Go!"

Naruto stared blankly. "What?"

"Oh dear, is your poor memory acting up? How about blondie #2 then?" Kakashi said to the Fangirl. She glowered at him. "No? Shino, Sasuke, anything to add?"

The Mute didn't move at all and Sasuke looked away, not wanting to admit that he didn't remember. He'd always had a good memory and caught onto things quick—but only if he found them important enough to remember. And to him, the Mute, the Fangirl, and the Wildcard had yet to do anything to prove themselves as worthy shinobi.

"Alright then, I guess you four had better give out that information again," Kakashi said. "You're not going home until all of you can recite everything perfectly—and I don't care if it takes all night."

o-O-o

-5:59 AM, April 2nd, 312 TE-
-Hidden Leaf Village's Southern Gate-

Naruto was the last person to arrive at the South Gate the next morning. He also nearly had a heart attack when he saw that Hatake was already there, leaning back in chair near the guard station. Yesterday when he was only a few minutes late had been bizarre enough, but early?

"Maa, another minute and you would have failed, Naruto," Hatake said lazily.

Shielding his gaze, Naruto looked up at the sky. "No fire raining from the sky or swarms of locust? This is a pretty shitty apocalypse," he said.

Hatake took his feet off the table they'd been propped up on and stood. Leaning down close to the boy while the other genin stood in the background, he said, "Since you don't have anything riding on this exam, I'm going to give you a little incentive. If you pass, I'll teach you shunshin."

Naruto's eyes widened at the mention of the one jutsu he'd been begging Hatake to teach him since he first became a genin. "We'll have no problems passing, sir," he said with a wide grin.

Chuckling, Hatake patted his head like he would a dog, then quickly withdrew before Naruto could slap his hand away. He ushered Naruto to stand with the rest of his "team" before addressing them as group. An invisible Tokui sat behind Naruto, silently waiting.

"Now then, I want all of you to take out every piece of equipment on you, including everything you have in sealed scrolls, and lay them on the ground in front of you," Hatake said.

The bewildered kids slowly began to follow his instructions. Naruto hesitated for a moment as he followed suit, not quite comfortable with pouring everything out in front of his new teammates. Uchiha appeared to be having similar thoughts, because he was almost physically shaking as he unpacked. Naruto felt surprisingly vulnerable and naked as he stripped off all of his weapons and equipment. It wasn't like he couldn't fight without them, he just... He hadn't been without at least a kunai for years, even when sleeping, now that he thought about it.

Once they were all done, Hatake crouched down in front of Yamanaka's pile and began to poke through it. Naruto noticed with some surprise that Aburame had the most out of all of them. He probably had tons of pockets in that coat he wore. Another surprise was Uchiha's pile—which more closely resembled a store's display counter than a pile. All of his items were meticulously lined up so that that nothing was touching anything else, and they each took up equal space. Yamanaka was twittering about how perfect Uchiha was. Naruto just thought he was anal-retentive.

Hatake went through each pile one by one, all without saying a word. When he finally stood back up he motioned for the genin to put everything away and then rocked back on his heels while thoughtfully tapping his cheek. With a jolt Naruto realized that it had been part of the exam.

"All of you packed too many weapons," Hatake said. "Ino-chan, you brought unnecessary items such as makeup and tissues. Exactly what good would that do you on a mission?"

"They can be used for infiltration," Yamanaka said.

"Henge," the jōnin retorted.

Yamanaka shook her head. "Henge can be detected, which would blow the mission."

"Then learn to do without makeup anyway. Your reasoning makes sense, but it still takes up unnecessary room. Points for defending your choice though. You also didn't pack enough water purification tablets—"

"We can find a fresh water source," Yamanaka quickly said.

"—And negative points for defending a stupid choice. You don't know that you'll run into a fresh water source during your mission, especially since you don't know where you'll be going. Oh look, you could have brought more tablets in place of makeup! Funny how that works out, isn't it?" Hatake said dryly.

The blonde-haired girl fumed silently. She didn't try to defend herself again, though she looked like she desperately wanted too.

Hatake turned to Uchiha. "Sasuke-kun, you brought far more shuriken than you would need on any mission given to a genin. Or a chūnin, for that matter. If you feel like you need that much, you need to learn more about conservative weapon use." The boy frowned, but said nothing. "You should also try balancing your supply of rations and military ration pills; too many pills can be damaging and, again, you'd have to be doing more fighting than you'll generally see in one mission to need so many. Limit yourself to a dozen at most for a long mission, and even that's pushing it. The alcohol wipes are good though, since if you get injured they increase the amount of time you can go without seeing a medic-nin before being in danger of getting an infection.

"Naruto-kun... Sewing set, good. You're the only one who thought to bring one. To the rest of you, if you don't have one then you need to pick one up as soon as you get back. During a long mission your clothes will get torn some way or another, whether you see combat or not, so a sewing set is imperative. For example, Sasuke-kun, if you had a rip in your shirt and were stationed in a wet location for your mission, what would you do?"

Naruto expected Uchiha give some kind of snooty response about not caring—because, come on, he was Uchiha. Instead he surprised Naruto by frowning and considering the question seriously.

After a minute he slowly said, "With no sewing set, I would change into a fresh shirt until I could reach a place where I could buy something to fix it with."

"A fair answer," Hatake said with a nod. His eyes swept over the genin team. "If you're in a harsh environment, or even just a wet one such as a bog or Rain Country, then exposing yourself to the elements more than you need to can lead to a slew of problems that will get you sick—especially with fungal diseases. Plus, ripped clothing can be a hazard in combat. You never want to give your enemy more of an opening than they'll already have with a green-thumbed kids like you four.

"Continuing on: Naruto-kun you have far too many exploding tags and not enough rations. Even you need to eat sometimes." He gave Naruto a significant look. "Shino-kun, you have a compass, good. Such a tool can be useful on any mission, and especially when you don't know where you'll be going. The sunscreen is a nice touch as well; you'd be amazed at how many shinobi don't think of the sun and then get slowed down in battle thanks to sunburn because they didn't realize what the effect of lying in the sun for a week while doing surveillance would be. Of course, if you have a medic-nin with you then it wouldn't be a problem, but obviously you don't have that luxury. Aaand finally, you need more water purification tablets as well. You kids are really underestimating what you'll need out there in the big, harsh world. At least you all brought canteens though; that's more than I can say for some wet-behind-the-ears genin.

"And next, onto your actual exam parameters!" Hatake clapped his hands together, looking happier than any teacher had the right to be. "This exam is being partaken by all the genin who graduated. Here's the catch: we usually put Genin in three-man cells, as you should be aware. This year we put you in four-man cells because we're raising the bar on what it takes to become a shinobi. So out of all the genin who are participating, only one team will pass."

"What?!" Yamanaka shrieked—and damn did she have a set of lungs on her. "But there's, like, eight teams!"

Even Aburame straightened up, startled by the news, and Uchiha looked ready to spit fire.

"Yep! But you still haven't heard what the actual exam is yet!" Hatake said.

He had his evil smile on again. With a flourish he took out a map of Fire Country and held it out. There was a little red X drawn in ink on it, marking a spot on the southern peninsula of the country, miles and miles from any town. Hatake tapped the mark.

"This is where you need to go. The first team to arrive passes," he explained. "But there are a few strings attached: If you take more than a week, even if you get there first, you fail. If you speak to anyone outside of your team, even an animal, you fail. If you try to get directions from someone, you fail. If a civilian sees you, you fail. If one of your teammates gets injured or sick, you fail. If you show up without all of your teammates, you fail. If you engage in combat of any kind, you fail." His gaze swept over them. "Let me repeat that last one. If you engage in combat of any kind, be it self-defense or against an animal, you will fail. So if you happen to come across another team, what will you do? You'll run in the opposite direction."

With a start, Naruto realized that was why Hatake had said they'd brought too many weapons—they weren't going to need them. The exam focused on survival and navigation alone.

"Rest assured that we'll be watching you the entire time. If you break one of the rules or put so much as a toe out of line, we will notice. If you want to quit at any time during the exam, say so and we'll pull you out. But fair warning: this is a team exam. You will either win together or lose together, no exceptions," Hatake said.

"Are we forbidden from using jutsu at all, or just in combat?" Aburame asked quietly. Naruto was almost startled by his voice; he hadn't heard the bug boy talk except for his brief introduction the day before.

Hatake looked pleased. "Now there's an intelligent question. Yes, you may use jutsu out of combat, if you feel the need to for whatever reason. But you may not set up traps or anything that could harm other teams at a later time. Any other questions?"

"Where are the other teams? Uchiha asked. He had a small smile on his face and looked rather...excited? It was odd, considering that Naruto could only remember seeing him brood.

"They are with their sensei at specific points just outside the wall, being briefed just like you. You guys are just the lucky ones who got the gate. Oh, I recommend you stay off the roads though—they tend to be patrolled by bandits, and I wouldn't want my cute little students to get killed!"

Naruto rolled his eyes at how excited Hatake looked at the prospect that they might get killed. The girl looked a little green at the thought, but the other two were indifferent. Hatake handed Naruto a foot by foot piece of white cloth, almost like a silk handkerchief. It had blue lines sewn into, forming the rough outline of Fire Country, an X for Hidden Leaf Village, an X for were they supposed to go, and a few lines representing lakes and rivers.

"That's a sketch map," Hatake explained. "It's the only map you'll have. Ready to go?"

As one, Team 7 nodded.

o-O-o

-6:30 AM, April 2nd, 312 TE-
-Hidden Leaf Village's Southern Gate-

At exactly 6:30 to the second, Team 7 set off at a brisk lope from the southern gate. As Sasuke and his new team passed into the wilderness they veered off into the grass so that they would stay away from the roads as Kakashi had warned. None of them wanted to risk stumbling across bandits, especially since they were forbidden from fighting.

As soon as they reached the trees, the Wildcard leapt up into them and jumped from one tree to the next, before abruptly dropped back to the ground with a sheepish look on his face.

"Sorry," he said. "I forgot you guys wouldn't know the tree climbing exercise yet."

"Sticking to things with chakra," Sasuke guessed. He had watched shinobi climbing walls for years with no success at replicating the technique. He had attempted to ask Mizuki-sensei how to do it once, but the chūnin had immediately brushed him off, citing that he wasn't ready for it yet and would learn it when he became a genin. Well he was genin now, even if not officially, and he had someone before him who knew the exercise.

"Uh, yeah, it's a chakra exercise that allows you to stick to things like trees and walls with just your feet. Makes running through trees a lot easier and a whole lot faster," the Wildcard said.

"Teach us," Sasuke said.

Even though it was such a simple request, the Wildcard gave him an odd look. "Uh—"

Before he could respond further, the Mute broke in and said, "It would be advantageous to learn such a skill for this exam, Uzumaki-san. Running through trees would allow us to move at a faster pace, giving us a corner over our fellow examinees."

They all paused for a moment. "Er, do you mean an edge over the others?" the Wildcard awkwardly pointed out.

It was difficult to tell, but it looked like the Mute's cheeks might have turned red. He nodded silently.

Fighting a grin, the Wildcard replied, "Alright, I'll show you guys how it works, but don't expect to learn it in one go—it can take days to get down, depending on how much chakra control you have."

"We will need to take breaks regardless," reasoned the Mute. "Because this is an endurance race and not a sprint, I suggest we run in one hour shifts, with five minute breaks in between. During the breaks one at a time we can begin to use the exercise. This will prevent us from overexerting ourselves while giving us a chance to move ahead. Is this acceptable?"

Sasuke stared. He had never heard the Mute speak more than a few words at a time. He was not supposed to talk so much. Breaking out of his thoughts, Sasuke grunted an acknowledgment and the Fangirl was quick to agree as well—doubtlessly because he had agreed, not because she had used her head and actually thought it through herself.

"Yeah, sounds like a party," the Wildcard muttered as he scratched the back of his neck.

The group lapsed into silence as they moved on. They followed the road, just far enough away to stay out of sight. The sun was just beginning to peek through the leaves and the ground was soft beneath their feet. Only the Fangirl accidentally broke a branch every now and then.

Sasuke observed his teammates as they ran. The Mute dodged around trees and rocks to conserve his energy (just a guess, Sasuke reminded himself), while the Wildcard plowed ahead, jumping over some obstacles, pushing others aside. Where the Mute was methodical, the Wildcard was anything but. It said a lot about their personalities.

The Fangirl looked as though she didn't know what she was doing. She kept stealing glances at Sasuke as they ran, and it was slowing her down. It puzzled Sasuke, actually. She had shown in front of Kakashi that she could be logical, but she abandoned all that in favor of fawning over him. Sasuke decided that people were strange and deserved to be avoided when possible. The Fangirl in particular was a potential hazard during a mission.

When the first hour had passed, the Mute pulled them to an abrupt halt. He sat down at the base of a tree and took out a water bottle. The Fangirl brushed dirt off a wide rock and then gingerly sat down. At least she was sensible when it came to keeping clean. Sasuke took a drink from his own water bottle. He twisted the cap back on, stopped, untwisted it, and then twisted it again. He paused for a second, and then repeated it one more time.

The Wildcard was watching him. Sasuke glowered. "Teach me the exercise," Sasuke demanded.

"No 'please'?" the Wildcard said. Sasuke's lips tightened into a thin line. He would not be goaded into getting angry. The Wildcard laughed, and then said, "Yeah, yeah; I already said I would. No need to get so uptight over it."

Uptight? How did wanting to improve as a shinobi make him 'uptight'?

The Wildcard walked over to the closest tree, an oak with a wide trunk, and placed a foot on it. "The point of the exercise is to gather just enough chakra in your feet to stick to the tree. If you use too much you'll get repelled, too little and you won't stick. The hardest part though is not figuring out what that specific amount is, but learning how to sustain that exact amount over a long period of time."

Without further ado the Wildcard took a couple of steps to the nearest tree and then walked up its trunk. About half way up he flipped through the air and landed on the ground.

Sasuke gave the tree a measured look. He strode up to it and put a foot against the bark. When he tried to walk up, the bark crack beneath his feet and sent him flying backward. He landed in a crouch and stayed that way for a moment, staring at the tree. This time when he approached the tree again he stood with one foot on the ground. With the other up against the tree, he experiment with different chakra amounts until he found one that made his foot stick to the bark.

"Run, don't walk," the Wildcard advised.

That didn't seem like logical advice to Sasuke. "Why?"

"Your muscles aren't used to the strain of walking vertically. If you try to do this slowly gravity will pull your torso down, creating extra pull against your feet while you're trying to stick. You have to run while doing this exercise at first, until you get used to holding yourself in an vertical position.

Sasuke nodded slowly. He had not considered that muscle training played a factor in the exercise. Perhaps that was why he had never been able to recreate the technique on his own—he had not had all the information.

Abruptly the Mute stood. "Five minutes have departed," he said, and then took off without waiting for a reply. Sasuke heard the Wildcard snort quietly as they followed.

They continued to follow that pattern for the rest of the day. Surprisingly, the Mute managed to master the chakra exercise first, after trying it three times. He quietly explained that he already had good chakra control, as it was a requirement for his clan. He didn't expand on that, so Sasuke guessed—not assumed, he reminded himself—that it had to do with his Bloodline Limit.

Annoyingly, the Fangirl was second in mastering the technique, leaving Sasuke as the last. He was not used to coming in last. The failure left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Determined to find out why he had yet to complete out the exercise, Sasuke demanded that the Fangirl tell him how she did it. She blushed and tittered, and then at last managed to say, "I learn well under pressure." Unsatisfied, Sasuke pushed until she said, "I probably have a lot less chakra than you, Sasuke-kun, so like Shino I stared out with better control."

"It's like a faucet," the Wildcard chimed in. "The higher it's turned on, the harder it is to control."

Sasuke turned to him. Pointless statements only wasted time. "What are you going on about?"

"Faucets. I thought that part was obvious."

"I think what Uzumaki-san is trying to say is that the less chakra you have, the easier it is to control," the Mute said.

The Wildcard nodded emphatically. "Exactly! But anyway, it's been five minutes again so we should get going," he said.

Sasuke mulled over the conversation as they picked up the pace again. His pride wasn't quite satisfied by their explanations. Regardless, his pride would take all the beating it could if their advice would help him to grow strong enough for Itachi.

o-O-o

-7:00 PM, April 2nd, 312 TE-
-Unknown Location South of Hidden Leaf Village-

By the time the sun started to set, they had made a lot of progress. Uchiha still hadn't mastered the tree exercise, although he could get about half way up a trunk now. He was like a rabid pit bull chasing after a bone when he wanted to master something. With a flinch Naruto realized that statement reminded him a little too much of himself.

Just as they were beginning to talk about where to stop for the night, they came across what looked like an abandoned hunter's cabin. Part of the roof had collapsed in, but other than that it seemed structurally sound. Naruto lingered outside for a moment, not at all trusting that another broken roof wouldn't try to bury him alive. Tokui brushed against his side and he took a second to pat the tiger, grateful for his presence. Naruto had never had someone stay around him for more than a few hours at a time, let along live with him, and Tokui was starting to grow on him.

How sad was it that a talking animal was his first friend? A badass, chakra-wielding talking animal, but still.

Aloud, Naruto said, "I don't know about this. It kind of stands out…"

"We need to get a good night's sleep," Yamanaka argued. "What if it rains?"

"We have tents—"

"But an actual roof is still better! I need to get my beauty sleep, and if we happen across a gift like this, then why shouldn't we use it?"

"It could be a trap," Uchiha grunted.

Yamanaka quailed a bit under his gaze, but then suddenly folded her arms before her and thrust her chin into the air stubbornly. "We should stay here, Sasuke-kun."

Naruto and the Uchiha exchanged looks. Naruto held his hands up helplessly, having never had to deal with a stubborn girl—or girls in general, for that matter—before. Uchiha glared sullenly in return, although it lacked any real heat. As one they turned to the silent Aburame.

"My kikaichū cannot detect any human presence in the area for quite some time," he said.

"See?" Yamanaka grinned triumphantly. "It's fine."

The inside of the cabin was slightly more dilapidated than the outside. Yamanaka quickly claimed an empty spot of floor beneath a window and began to lay out her sleeping bag. Naruto poked around the one-room cabin, but found nothing of interest. The windows looked like they had once had glass in them, but now were nothing but empty sockets. The floorboards were rotting a bit, but only dirt lay beneath them.

Uchiha stood in the middle of the messy cabin with his eyes closed tightly and his arms crossed over his chest. Either he was attempting to imitate a statue or… Actually, Naruto had no idea what the other boy was doing. Yamanaka kept shooting him concerned looks, so Naruto assumed it wasn't normal for Uchiha to start a standing meditation session.

"My kikaichū have perceived something," Aburame suddenly announced. He stepped toward the corner of the cabin, near where the roof had caved in. Leaning down, he traced his finger along the wall next to the fireplace. "This is hollow."

Immediately Uchiha's eyes snapped open and he joined him. He pulled out a kunai and ran it along some kind of crack in the wall, trying to pry the wood away. He grunted at the effort and no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn't come loose.

"The wood is different than the rest of the cabin," Aburame said. "It is healthier."

"Wil— Uzumaki," Uchiha said.

Naruto glanced up briefly. "Yeah?"

"You've been a genin for longer," he said. "Give us a hand."

Still no 'please', Naruto thought, more amused by Uchiha's bluntness than anything else. He wondered how much it hurt the Uchiha's pride to admit that Naruto might be better than him at something. Putting his hands in his pockets, Naruto strolled over to where the other two boys stood. A wooden panel on the wall next to the stones of the fireplace looked noticeably lighter than the rest of the wood around it. Naruto rapped a knuckle against it, but it felt solid.

"It looks like it's a panel separate from the rest of the wood," Aburame pointed out. "But it's too tightly fit to pull out."

Naruto tilted his head to the side as he stared at it, running the jutsu he knew through his head. They were hardly suited for something like this. "Your bugs can't eat through the wood or something?"

Aburame turned toward him. "…They are not termites," he said with a strangely stern tone.

"Eheh, right." Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"What about the chakra exercise?" Yamanaka asked from over Uchiha's shoulder. "Isn't it used for sticking to wood?"

Naruto blinked in surprise. "That…actually makes sense." A second later he yelped as he dodged a strike from the girl. "Alright, alright, I'll try it."

Placing the tips of his fingers against the wood, Naruto channeled chakra through them just as he would for tree climbing. When he pulled his hand back a square wooden panel came with it, revealing a four inch deep compartment and a burst of dust. Uchiha coughed and immediately backed as far away from the dust as possible.

"It's empty," Naruto said, a bit disappointed. "Isn't the point of having a secret compartment to keep something in it?"

"This place is been abandoned. Whoever used to live here already took everything," Uchiha replied, still coughing.

"Right, well, that was fun," Naruto said with a shrug. Aburame had already wordlessly moved off to set up his own sleeping bag. Naruto wondered if he was disappointed too; it was hard to tell with him.

"Wait, there's something there," Yamanaka said suddenly.

Naruto looked back to the compartment, but it was still completely empty "Huh?"

"Not there," Yamanaka said with a roll of her eyes. "On the back of the wood."

Frowning, he turned the panel over. Sure enough, there was some kind of a symbol carved into the back. Even Uchiha came back over to get a good look at the symbol. Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized it as being like the symbols from the underground compound he and Takauji had found. He quickly looked back at the empty compartment.

What was something from that compound doing out here, in an abandoned cabin on the other side of Fire Country?

"It looks like old writing," Uchiha said.

Naruto looked up and found that Uchiha was looking at him suspiciously. He smoothed his expression over and shrugged. "Dunno. I've never seen old writing before." That did remind Naruto that it was entirely possible it was unconnected to the compound. Just because it was the only place he had seen the writing, didn't mean that other things hadn't survived the Jūbi's War.

For a moment Naruto wondered why he was hiding his knowledge about the writing. Yes, he had promised Takauji that he wouldn't say anything about the compound, but telling his teammates that he could recognize pre-Tsuyoi Era writing wouldn't give that away. There was no real reason to hide it from them. But there wasn't a reason to tell them either.

In that second Naruto realized he might have a problem with trust.

In the next second he realized that he didn't really care.

Naruto tossed the panel to Uchiha and turned away. From the corner of his eye he saw Uchiha snort and drop the piece of wood. They set up for the night, passed around a few ration bars, and decided on what order they would take watch. Aburame suggested four hours of rest so that they could each take watch for one hour. Uchiha then immediately demanded to have first watch—undoubtedly so that he could continue to work on the tree exercise. Naruto shrugged and agreed, keeping his eye on the overturned wooden panel the entire time.

Uchiha woke him an hour later when his turn to stand watch came up. Naruto stood at the door for his hour, alertly watching and listening for the sounds of anyone approaching, but nothing of any particular interest happened. Tokui joined him for part of the hour, but they didn't speak in case any of the others heard. If that happened then the least he would have to worry about was them thinking he was crazy. Plus if Hatake-sensei really was watching, he might suspect it had something do with the Nine-Tails. Naruto was under enough suspicion already without adding that to the list.

When Naruto's time was up he checked to make sure that everyone was asleep, slipped the panel with the symbol into his bag, and then awoke Yamanaka for her shift. Once she was standing sleepily just outside the door, he drifted back into sleep.

o-O-o

-11:00 AM, April 4th, 312 TE-
-Rice Country-

The room was made entirely from dark stone. The ceiling was low, almost as though it was pressing down, ready to collapse on the room's occupants. Darkness hung in the corners, thick and tangible, unable to be driven away by the torches that lined the walls.

In the center of the room stood Orochimaru, head rolling back languidly as he stood loosely. The floor around his feet was covered in black seals that spiraled out away from him in simple curves and circles that were made up of more intricate designs. Directly before him, five feet away, was a circular black mark, four feet across. Three similar circles were in behind him and on his sides; one for each of the cardinal directions.

Within each of the circles knelt a sacrifice, bound and shivering. Young shinobi, without enough chakra to be useful for anything else. They couldn't even begin to see what good they were doing here, what an honor it was for their feeble lives to be used to take this step forward.

Orochimaru's eyes snapped open. There was a charge of chakra in the air now, sparking across his skin and making his hair stand on end with a delightful quiver. His tongue flickered across his lips and his eyes glittered with excitement. The power seemed to seep into him, filling him pulsing energy just waiting to be released. It swirled through his blood and settled in the marrow of his bones. There was no thrill in this world like the touch of death.

"Summoning," Orochimaru intoned. The sudden sound sliced through the silence like a whip, and all four of the sacrifices flinched. Orochimaru's smiled widened. "Impure World Resurrection."

The sacrifices screamed. Their voices mingled with the rumbling that suddenly shook the dark room. The seals on the floor lit up with chakra, and then a bright purple light began to swirl on the floor before Orochimaru. As the rumbling and the screams reached a crescendo he tilted his head back, closing his eyes and relishing in the pure power that whipped around him. It was heat and ice and soft and hard simultaneously and left him feeling heady and breathless and wanting to drink in more, more, more.

The whole room shuddered as the sacrifices thrashed in their places and then suddenly burst into white ash. Before him the shifting shadowed portal widened and two simple wooden coffins rose from the floor. With a last pulse of that smothering chakra the purple light faded and the seals evaporated along with it, leaving only the coffins and a panting Orochimaru behind. He shivered as the last vestiges of power disappeared, leaving him empty, aching, and cold in its wake.

The lids of the coffins creaked and then fell to the floor with twin thuds. Standing motionless within the coffins were two figures with muted gray skin and dull, dark gray sclera. The first was a boy, short with light brown hair and a Leaf forehead protector. The other was a man, late twenties with long, pale blue hair and also a Leaf-nin.

As he stared at the blank gaze of the boy, Orochimaru felt the small twinge of emotion, like a mosquito bite. Student, genin, responsibility. His gaze flickered to the man. Annoyance, foolish, soft, wasted potential.

He turned away while ignoring the feeling of twisting, yearning loss in his stomach that was byproduct of the jutsu. One step closer; one step toward power.

o-O-o

-11:30 AM, April 4th, 312 TE-
-Rice Country-

She was waiting in the designated clearing, alone. Not another soul for miles. Orochimaru's lips formed a laughing greeting as he landed a few feet away. She looked exactly like she had the last time he'd seen her, a decade ago. Young features, soft skin, hard eyes. She was shifting in place, hands clenching and unclenching. A ripple of muscle and she could turn a boulder into fine power. Such power hidden behind a demure appearance—steel behind silk.

"Orochimaru," she barked. No familiarity, no warmth. Just cold steel. A warning, a threat. And hope, thinly veiled by false bravado.

"Tsunade," he replied easily, tone soft and smooth.

The two resurrected shinobi landed behind him, one on either side. For a moment Tsunade didn't react. She just stared, eyes blank and mind empty. Orochimaru didn't exist to her anymore—he could calmly walk up and slit her throat and she wouldn't even react. He stared at the pale expanse of vulnerable skin as she swallowed thickly.

There were tears in her eyes now, spilling over and streaming down her face. A sob ripped itself from her throat and then she was shaking and trembling, lost and overcome by such emotion that Orochimaru felt like he was wading through a sea of it. The other shinobi ran forward and both surrounded her, murmuring while she sobbed and rambled and felt.

Orochimaru watched impassively. The impenetrable cold that had been driven away by the summoning had returned. It seeped into his bones and drained him of amusement and passion. He looked on disinterestedly at the reunion. Foolish woman. Wasted potential, drowned by emotions and useless sentiments.

At last she stopped, still shaking and holding the man and boy against her. "Dan, Nawaki…" she mumbled, and then looked up at him with such gratitude that it was all he could do to keep a sneer of disgust off his face. "Thank you. Orochimaru, I…" She trailed off into another shudder.

Orochimaru turned and walked away. She followed.

o-O-o

-2:00 PM, April 4th, 312 TE-
-Unknown Location South of Hidden Leaf Village-

Day two of the exam passed without incident. They came close to a few small villages and farms, but always managed to stay away from human contact. Early in the morning Uchiha mastered the tree climbing exercise, so with a little practice Naruto's teammates were soon flying through the trees like overgrown squirrels.

The problems came on the third day. By mid-afternoon time they were all pretty much sick of each other's company and hadn't spoken a word to each other in hours. Well, that meant Aburame and Uchiha were just acting like normal. Yamanaka looked sullen and for once wasn't staring at Uchiha.

Naruto thought he was going to go insane from all the silence. Long periods without talking made him jumpy, and reminded him too much of long years in his empty apartment with no one but himself to talk to. If he'd been taking this exam on his own, he would probably be talking to himself aloud by now to stave off such silence.

"I am uncomfortable," Aburame said abruptly. Naruto nearly missed the next branch out of surprise. The boy didn't lead in with a thoughtful hum or even a cough or something—he just spoke, as though they were in the middle of a conversation.

"Umm," Yamanaka said.

"I am uncomfortable with the atmosphere," Aburame continued. "And there is an animal following us."

Uchiha's head whipped around. "What?"

"A large animal," Aburame added.

Naruto winced. Tokui wasn't as hidden as he'd thought then.

"How long has it been following us?" Uchiha asked.

Aburame shook his head. "It is inconceivable to say. My kikaichū are having trouble detecting it, though I do not know why."

"Impossible to say," Naruto absently corrected while thinking fast. "What if it's related to Hatake-sensei or whatever other jōnin are out there?"

"I…do not know. It is possible, as it is clearly not a normal animal," Aburame replied with a frown.

"So do we just leave it alone?" Yamanaka asked anxiously.

Naruto shrugged, though the others probably couldn't see it while they were running. "I don't see what else we can do. We were forbidden from fighting or even talking to animals, right?" he said. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not interested in failing."

If the cloth map Hatake-sensei had given them was right—and Naruto wouldn't put it past him to trick them—then they should be converging on the finish line soon. Naruto hadn't said anything to the others, but he found it odd that they hadn't even run into any other teams yet. If there were eight of them leaving from Hidden Leaf Village and heading to the same place, their paths should have crossed at some point. Had being able to run through the trees really made that much of a difference?

Naruto caught a flash of movement from the corner of his eye. When he turned his head, he just saw Uchiha running alongside him, staring ahead with that same pinched expression he often wore. The days of travel must have been getting to Naruto.

When he saw the movement a second time Naruto knew it hadn't been a fluke. With one hand automatically reaching toward his shuriken pouch he opened his mouth to say something, and then— Nothing.

o-O-o

A/N: First off, Kakashi's brief explanation that they're in four-man teams because they are "raising the bar on what it takes to become a shinobi" is complete bullshit meant to forestall questions from them, so don't take it at face value. Or at any value at all. The actual reason will be explained in full detail at a later time.

The image of Sasuke using words like "dreadful" and "travesty" makes me lol. And yes, part of this story will be told from Sasuke's point of view. The large difference between the way he and Naruto think and view the world makes him surprisingly fun to write. Also, I'm assuming that Hidden Leaf's Academy at least vaguely follows Japan's school year system, hence why they are graduating in April.

And finally, for those of you just skimming the rewrite: the first scene of the next chapter has been drastically changed, so please make sure to read it.

Happy reading!

SR

It is impossible to go through life without trust: That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.
Graham Greene